Healing the Moon
by Ginger Sheikah
Summary: "Something powerful was resting in the woods, and I was about to cross the threshold into the unknown. As much as I wanted to turn around and run for my life, I ran after Midna." A haunting story of forbidden love, a mysterious curse, and a powerful mask. Told from Zelda's point of view. Post TP ZeldaXFierce Deity LinkXMidna
1. Prologue

***MASSIVE DISCLAIMER* **

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the prologue of my fanfic, Healing the Moon. The idea for this story was conceived 3 years ago while listening to a piano version of "The Song of Healing." I outlined and drafted and wrote on this for about 6 months before I finally published the first two chapters on April 24th, 2012-**my 21st birthday**! Now, 2 years later and a fortnight before my 23rd birthday, I am reposting my first, and only, full fledged fanfiction story. I am so excited to post this once again! It has been re-edited over and over again. I've put in a few more little scenes and goodies and tightened the plot holes and fixed all the mistakes from before. I've grown as a writer since this story was first created and I wanted to refresh this as best as I could. All the chapters are written and waiting to be posted. I will probably post a new chapter about once or twice a month, so keep an eye out for regular updates!

To those of you who followed this originally, I am sorry for the circumstances which led me to not finish the story AND to make it disappear from this website. I hope that you will give it a second chance and that you will appreciate all the updates and fixes.

To those of you who are new, I hope that you enjoy, and happy reading :)

* * *

"**Link, where are you** taking me?" Asked a curious, young princess Zelda as she followed a boy in a bright green tunic through the depths of a quiet forest. The boy in question only turned around and gave her a small grin, reaching back and taking Zelda's hand as he did so. Zelda's smile widened at the boy holding her hand and she could feel her cheeks blushing.

"Don't worry, Zelda," Link replied reassuringly. "I only want to show you something that I brought back from Termina."

"Termina? That place you went to when you disappeared from Hyrule? What did you bring back?" she inquired as her interest piqued at the mention of the mysterious land called Termina.

The young Hero had gone missing over a year ago, only to find out that he had been on an eerie quest in a foreign world. He had returned a few weeks ago, and surprised his old friend, Princess Zelda, by sneaking into her castle's courtyard while she was playing.

Link didn't say anything in response to her question about Termina, but tightened his grip on her hand and started to run, causing Zelda to trip over her skirts as she tried to keep up with his faster pace.

The pair of children didn't spend too long running; Link stopped in front of an abandoned building that sat in a small, shady clearing.

Zelda nervously looked at the building and hid herself behind the short Hero as best as she could.

"What's in there? Is that where we need to go?" She asked with trepidation.

"It'll be okay, Zelda. There's nothing bad in there." Link said bravely. He squeezed her hand, and Zelda felt her embarrassing blush return.

"Alright Link. Show me what you've got in there." She replied in her trembling, girlish voice.

Wordlessly, Link led the princess into the house. It looked as if it had not been abandoned long; there were hardly any cobwebs in the corners and there was no dust gathering on any of the surfaces.

Zelda looked around the tiny, one bedroom house, casually wondering why it lay empty. There was one large room, and a ladder at the other side of the area that led to a loft, which served as the upstairs portion of the house. There were no curtains on any of the windows. All signs of being lived in were completely erased.

"Zelda, do you see them?" Link's soft question broke the silence. With her eyebrows furrowed, Zelda's gaze wandered around the room.

"See what? I see nothing but…masks." Zelda had answered her own question. At first glance, she noticed nothing out of the ordinary, but as she scanned the room more closely, she noticed that there were bizarre looking masks placed all around the room. The colorful faces stared back at her with empty eyes. Zelda shuddered as she found more and more sitting on their perches where Link had placed them.

She felt like they were looking at her, reading her thoughts, and judging her. The Princess didn't like the uneasy way the masks made her stomach clench with anxiety.

"These are the masks I was telling you about." Link once again shattered the silence. "I brought them back with me from my journey in Termina. They look scary, but they're actually not that bad at all."

Zelda nodded her head, not really sure if she agreed with him or not.

"Why are they here in this old house?" Why aren't they with you in Kokiri forest?" She didn't like the idea of these masks sitting alone in the house, unsupervised. What if somebody with a heart less pure than Link's happened to stumble upon this house and used the masks for evil?

Link shrugged his shoulders. "I was afraid that the new Deku Tree wouldn't let me keep the masks in his forest. There is magic in the masks, powerful magic, and I thought that maybe the Deku tree wouldn't trust me if I brought magic into Kokiri. So, I brought them to this shack for now. You don't like my surprise, do you?"

Zelda stopped inspecting the masks and looked over at her friend. Link's eyes looked downcast and he was fidgeting with the hem of his tunic. Her soft, young heart warmed at the sight of him. He had only wanted to make her happy by showing her the masks that she heard so much about.

"No Link, I'm just a little timid, that's all. Can you show me what they do?"

Link's expression brightened and he ran to the nearest mask, which resembled a mighty Goron. He snatched it up and held it close to his face.

"Just wait until you see what this one can do!" He exclaimed eagerly.

An hour passed as Link tried on all the masks, showing Zelda how he could turn into a Goron, a Zora, and a Deku scrub. He allowed her to try on the Mask of Scents and smell around the empty house. Zelda laughed at Link when he put on a mask that made him look as though he had two giant bunny ears growing out of his blonde hair. After each mask that they explored together, Zelda became less afraid of them, even becoming fond of a few.

The children eventually went through all of the different masks. They were now lying in a huge circle on the floor, with their blank faces staring apathetically up at the ceiling.

Zelda and Link were standing in the middle of the circle, talking about what Link should do with them.

"You could keep them in the castle. You're more than welcome to visit them anytime you want!" Zelda happily offered. If the masks were at her home, she could play with them anytime she wanted to!

"I don't know about that…maybe I could ask the Deku tree if I could have them in Kokiri with me. I mean, they helped me out a lot on my journey. They're like my friends." Link replied as he bent down to pick up the Zora mask.

With slight disappointment, Zelda said nothing as she watched Link fiddle around with the Zora mask. That one was his favorite, she could tell by the way he kept picking it up and playing with it.

She turned away from her friend and looked around the room, her eyes settling on an object underneath a chair in a shadowy corner. It was another mask!

"Hey! Link! What about this mask? What does it do?" Shouted Zelda as she sprinted over to the corner. She was about to bend over and retrieve the lone mask from it's hiding spot when she felt Link's fingers wrap protectively around her outstretched arm.

"Don't touch that one." He ordered with absolute seriousness.

Something in his uncharacteristically stern voice made Zelda immediately stop what she was doing.

"Why not? What's wrong with this one?" She whispered, her uncomfortable fear of the masks coming back in waves.

Link hesitated while Zelda waited with bated breath.

"That's the Fierce Deity mask," he answered with his voice low and quiet.

"Oh…" Zelda reverently replied. She remembered now. Her outstretched arm fell limply to her side. "That's the one that turned you into the big, powerful man?"

Behind her, she could feel Link nod his head, confirming her answer. The boy stepped in front of her, his hand still grasping the Princess' wrist as if to keep her at bay, and he knelt down to pick up the mask.

His thumb and index finger were tightly holding one edge of the pale mask as he slid it out from behind the chair. Link stood to his feet while the mask precariously dangled between his fingers. The boy Hero released his hold on Zelda and he let the Mask balance face-up on his fingertips, as if he were afraid of fully grasping the thing with his bare hands.

"This is the most powerful mask I have, Zelda. What it turned me into, and the strength it gave me was scary." Link held the object in front of his chest, letting Zelda gaze at it.

"It's dangerous beyond belief. There were times when I was afraid that I couldn't get it off. I was so scared that it wouldn't let me go…I think that it let me be free because I'm just a kid." The boy looked down at the mask, terrified of ever putting it on his face again.

Zelda brought her wandering fingers to the surface of the mask, only to have Link push them gently away. Perturbed, Zelda contented herself with just observing it.

Fierce Deity mask was completely different than any of the other twenty-three she had just seen. The face looked almost Hylian, with it's olive skin, pointed ears, and defined features. In fact, it looked somewhat like Link did when he was a sixteen-year-old boy, before she had sent him back to his days as a youth. But there were vivid red markings painted angrily across the cheeks and accenting the corners of his black, vacuous eyes. A bright blue V shape adorned his forehead, partially hidden beneath the tufts of white, artificial hair that puffed out over the mask's face. The wood of the mask was molded into a perpetual glare that made Zelda believe this mask was angry about something.

But the most unusual thing of all about the mask was the sudden and strange emotion she was feeling. The princess could sense a strong, seething fury emanating from the object. She also felt raw power radiating off the mask in waves, like the thing was fully alive and desperate to get her attention. Even the expression on its face was alive. All the other masks were stiff and ambiguous, but this one had a spark of life to it that terrified her. The mask was undeniably strong, and it was pulling her closer towards it. Zelda's mind grew fuzzy as she felt an unruly desire to grab it from Link's hands and put it on her own face. She knew that it was completely irrational, but Zelda couldn't make the thought go away.

"You can feel it, can't you?"

Zelda broke her gaze from the mask and lifted her eyes back to Link. His face was set in a tense smile. "If you think it's powerful now, just try wearing it."

Zelda wanted to, she desperately wanted to put the mask on.

"Can I hold it?" She pleaded, holding out her hands, hoping that Link would place the object in her palms.

"No," the boy replied, shaking his head. "I know you want to, but that's just the mask talking. It wants you to put it on, that's the way it works, but I'm not going to let you."

Zelda let her hands drop to her sides and she knew Link was right. The mask would have been too much for her.

"I don't know how you even handled it, Link."

The boy's tense smile returned to his face and he replied that he didn't know how either.

Silence filled the air as the two children continued to stare at the wild mask in Link's hands. Zelda knew that Link didn't want to take the Fierce Deity into Kokiri; the Deku tree wouldn't allow that thing within miles of the precious Lost Woods where his race of eternal children and fairies lived.

"I'm going to suggest something." Zelda said as she broke the silent reveries that her and Link were in. Link's blue eyes looked up at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Take all the masks to Kokiri. Ask the Deku tree if you can keep them there. They have good energy inside them, so I'm sure he will say yes. But this one…" here she gestured to the powerful face. "This one should be hidden. Don't take this anywhere and don't tell anyone about it."

Link took a step back from the princess, searching the house with a determined frown. "Alright. I'll hide it," he said as he looked for a hiding place.

"I didn't mean in here, Link. Can't we find a better place to hide it?" Zelda skeptically asked as she watched the Hero turn over empty boxes and peer behind the few pieces of abandonded furniture.

"Link, we need to find a better place to hide it!"

Link didn't seem to hear her demand, but had stopped in the middle of the room and was tapping his foot on the floor.

"What are you doing now?" inquired the impatient princess as she walked to Link's side.

"The floorboard is loose. Maybe we can lift it up and stick it under the floor." Answered the boy as he bent down, the mask still perched on his fingertips, and with his free hand, started tugging the stubborn board up.

With a great creaking sound, the board came loose and Link went flying back on his rear. The mask went sailing out of his hands and skidded over the floor, landing at Zelda's feet. Zelda eagerly bent down to pick up the Fierce Deity. Her fingers were barely grazing the smooth surface of the angry face…

"Zelda!" Link called out in a warning voice. As much as she wanted to pick it up, Zelda waited for Link to do it up himself.

The boy held it between his two fingers once more, and he gingerly placed the Fierce Deity on the cold dirt that lay beneath the floor.

Sudden panic rushed through Zelda's nerves as soon as the mask made contact with the ground. The thing knew what was happening to it, and Zelda could feel it's deeply alarmed emotions.

Link could feel it too. Zelda saw that his eyes were huge and full of sheer terror. His hand rested on the surface of the wooden face, and Zelda could sense it begging for Link to not bury it beneath the floor. The mask used no words, but she could FEEL its thoughts like her own emotions! The powerful pull it had over the children was exerted tenfold than it had before, when it was telling Zelda to put it on her face. It was desperate to not be buried and forgotten.

Forever could have passed before Link reluctantly drew his hand away from the Fierce Deity and he lowered the floorboard with an aching slowness. Link gradually stood up, looking down at the floor with indecision.

Zelda walked to his side and boldly held Link's hand, to silently reassure him that it was best for the mask to lie under the floor.

Without a word, the children gathered up the rest of the masks, carrying as many as they could in their arms. Link was forcefully thinking about talking to the Deku tree the next day, trying to get the Fierce Deity off his mind. Zelda wanted to leave the house as soon as she could. Her heart was wrenching with pity as the sensations the mask made her feel were still swirling around in her head.

Soon, but not soon enough, Link and Zelda were opening the door and escaping the house.

They had not gone five paces away when Zelda's head exploded with unabashed emotions that were screaming at her to go back. Her steps were heavy with unwarranted guilt as she felt the mask's helplessness and the burden of its rejection wash over her, drowning her senses. Fierce Deity was letting her know precisely what it thought about them leaving it behind.

Zelda compared herself to a careless mother abandoning her only child, leaving it to fend for itself. She tried to communicate with the mask, telling it that they needed to leave it behind because it was too dangerous. But the mask only pleaded stronger, voicelessly begging to not be left behind. It's frantic command to turn around infiltrated every part of Zelda's conscience. The mask was a living thing, capable of emotions as strong as any that a Hylian could have. Leaving it alone in a house would be like tossing away a child, wouldn't it? She couldn't do that!

Were those really her thoughts, she wondered to herself, as she felt dizzy from all the despairing feelings racing through her. Or was the mask planting ideas in her head?

Zelda looked over at Link, whose face was twitching slightly. He was dealing with the same internal battle that Zelda was having.

The realization that Link was also highly affected by the mask as Zelda, made her understand just how powerful the thing was. To get inside their heads and make them feel what it was feeling, and the fact that it felt at all, showed what kind of magic Fierce Deity's mask held.

Link looked back at Zelda, and their eyes locked, each feeling the same terrified, helpless, furious emotions and thinking the same manipulated thoughts that the Fierce Deity was placing in their heads.

Without saying anything, Link and Zelda took off running as fast as they could with their arms full of masks.

After sprinting for as far as their legs could carry them, Zelda's mind was mercifully free of the mask's emotions, but she could feel hot tears streaming down her face. When had she started crying?

Link looked highly disturbed. He had never felt Fierce Deity give off such strong, vulnerable emotions before. It frightened him deeply as he wondered what would have happened to him if he had never gotten the mask off when he wore it last.

They both sat down on the floor of the woods, letting the peaceful air of the forest wash over them as they tried to empty their minds of what just happened.

Zelda brushed off the twigs and leaves that clung to her pink dress. She noticed that the hem was ripped and tattered from where her frantically running feet had stepped on them.

She knew that neither her or Link would ever go back to that house. The insatiable power that lived in the mask would relentlessly beckon to them as soon as it sensed their presence, and she didn't think that they could resist it's despondent pleas a second time.

The lonely hiding place beneath the floor would have to suffice, for the rest of time.


	2. Snow

**Please enjoy the first official chapter of Healing the Moon, and happy reading!**

* * *

**It was one of those rare, treasured** days that I was able to spend my time however I pleased. Being the sole ruler of Hyrule hardly ever allowed for this exhausted Princess to have a day free of work. However, the first snowfall of the winter had fallen sometime in the early morning, much to my happiness.

Winter was a season that my heart adored. Hyrule changed from its normal majestic, green countryside to a magical wonderland. The sparkling white snow that blanketed my kingdom made my senses run wild with forgotten daydreams of my youth. There was always something about the first snow of the year that piqued my belief in fairy stories or reminded me of the dark tales that my father would tell me on a cold, wintry night by a roaring fire. There was a wild feeling of romance, adventure, and mystery that could be discovered in the heart of winter. I felt vividly alive when this time of year swept through my life.

My gloved hands tightened their grip on the leather reins that controlled my gray mare. Softly falling snowflakes fell gently onto her silvery mane, the whiteness making a striking contrast with the dark color. I sighed with contentment as I rode along in the snowfall. The cold air froze my warm breath into a little cloud of condensation as it escaped my sigh.

All around me was silent, save for the light hissing sound of the falling snow and the delightful thud of fresh powder crunching beneath my mare's hooves as she slowly trod through the forest. The naked branches of the trees pierced the canopy of pale clouds that hung in the air. Glittering snowdrifts gathered at the bases of trees and rocks, and little clumps desperately hung on to every surface that it could land on. Everything was peaceful and beautiful in its transformed, wintry state. It was absolute bliss.

Because I was the Princess, my duties always tied me to stay at the castle each day. My work was understandably demanding, but I performed it with as much zeal and love as I could give. It was my life's passion to serve the people of Hyrule, so I hardly ever strayed from my strict, daily routine. My dear friends could only seldom pay me visits in the late afternoons and evenings when my work was slowing it's pace for the day. There had only been a handful of times when I could return the favor and visit them, but they were such dear people, that they did not hold that discourtesy against me. I never took an unexpected day off for myself, one of the few exceptions being the first snow. On that day, my duties were set aside and I spent the day enjoying the magic with my people.

However, my plans differed for this particular frosty day. I would pay a visit to my very beloved of friends, Link and Midna.

Yes, I was on my way to see Midna. The vivacious Twilight Princess who had helped the Hero of Light bring this world to salvation was with us once again. Her return to Hyrule was no short of a miracle. It had happened one day in the spring. Amidst the changes of the season, I had sensed something extraordinary taking place. My life, and the life of Link, had never been the same since. It was a beautiful thing.

No doubt, Midna would already be in Ordon with her wolf-boy, as she so dubbed him. I remembered Link telling me that she would be visiting him for a few days during this week. My quiet laugh cut through the clear, cold air as I thought about Midna interacting with the snow. From what I heard, the Twili had a less than enthusiastic experience with the stuff when her and Link had quested on top of Snowpeak Mountain several years before. Apparently the Twilight Realm was deprived of any kind of winter season or snow at all. What a shame!

* * *

**Midna did not disappoint. **When I stepped within the boundaries of Ordon Village, I spotted her sulking by one of the houses. She was wearing a heavy coat, which was probably borrowed from Uli, and her arms were wrapped tightly around her shivering form. Her abundant, flaming hair cascaded down her back, looking like a fire against the white background of snow. Ruby eyes shot daggers at the offending snowflakes that were innocently falling in front of her grimacing face. Link, on the other hand was already involved in a fierce snowball war with the boys of the village. By the looks of it, Link and Colin were matched up against Malo and Talo.

I urged my horse further into the village, my presence going unnoticed for the time being. Midna was too focused on despising the snow to see me, and Link was busy playing with the village boys. I didn't see any adults outside. Uli had a young daughter to take care of, and the other parents were probably busy making a hot afternoon meal for their children. I did see one other person, however. Ilia, the only daughter of the village's Mayor, was making a snowman in front of her house. She was across the small, frozen river, some distance away from Midna. It didn't surprise me that she kept a healthy space between herself and the Twili girl. It seemed that neither of them was very fond of the other. I could guess that the reason for their discord was a certain blonde, green-clad Hero rolling around in the snow with the other boys.

Finally, one of the children spotted me. It was the rambunctious one, Talo. In the midst of the fight, the boy stopped in mid-throw and let his snowball fall carelessly to the ground.

"Hey! It's the Princess lady!" he called out to the others as he pointed a bare finger in my direction. Link also stopped in mid-throw and waved at me as a grin spread across his flushed face. Midna snapped out of her sullen reverie and managed a smile in my direction. Colin shyly waved at me as he mimicked Link's every move. Even Ilia looked up at the sound of Talo's cry and she stopped her snowman-making to curtsy.

A painful smack sounded through the village as a well-thrown snowball hit Link right on the side of his face. The youngest boy, Malo, apparently wasn't through with the fight.

"Hey! Come on Malo! That wasn't fair!" Talo yelled at his brother as Link wiped chunks of ice out of his eyes. Malo only crossed his arms and muttered something about taking advantage of Link's distraction. The fight resumed as Link, good-natured as always, returned the fire, not a hint of annoyance on his features.

Midna came running up to me, her face tinged with red from the cold. I hopped off my horse and tied her reins to a nearby post just as Midna reached me.

"This snow!" she hissed through clenched teeth as she struggled against shivering. "It's awful! I didn't like it at Snowpeak, and I don't like it now! How can you stand it, Princess Zelda?" demanded Midna as snow landed in her orange locks.

I only laughed and held out my hand to catch a few of the flakes on my gloved palm.

"It's lovely! How can you _not_ stand it?" I asked with pride in my voice. I looked over at Midna who was busily waving the snow away from falling on her face. "Oh Midna, you'll learn to adore it eventually."

This time it was Midna who laughed. She rolled her scarlet eyes, but she was now smiling, all traces of her scowl gone.

* * *

"**Wouldn't it be nicer **to stay inside?" asked Midna unhappily when Link suggested that the three of us take a walk through Ordon woods. I was all too eager to return to the enchantingly decorated forest, and Link seemed very keen on exploring his old haunts. It seemed as though our plans would be thwarted as we waited for Midna's approval, which wasn't granted until Link used his persuasive kisses to convince her.

With his fingers warmly wrapped around Midna's slender hand, Link walked away from the boys' snow battle and escorted us out of the village.

The snow was still calmly swirling through the air as we made our way past Link's homely house, which was nestled cozily in a small grove of trees. I chatted with my friends as we made our way deeper into the woods. It had only been a few weeks since I had seen either of them, so there was not much to catch up on.

Link was excited to see Ordon Spring covered in a thick layer of ice. He turned to me with his face lit up like a candle.

"Maybe when we get done with our walk, we can bring all the kids up to the spring and we can go slide on the ice! Wouldn't that be fun, Midna?" Link was now looking at his partner, who looked less than thrilled about the idea.

Conversation began settle down after that. By the time we made it across the bridge and past Faron spring, the only sounds were the ones made by the nature surrounding us. Link and Midna were walking in front of me with their arms wrapped tightly around each other's waists. It looked warm and comfortable to be them at that moment in time. They were drinking each other in, oblivious to the beautiful world around them, and to the silent observer traveling in their wake.

Before Midna returned to us, Link had lived in a dark, despondent world. I had no idea how deeply his affection ran for Midna until she shattered the Mirror of Twilight, permanently severing contact between her world and ours. The mirror was not the only thing she had broken; Link's heart had been destroyed. It was during this time of recovery that we had become close friends. I spent hours sitting with him in our favorite spot by Lake Hylia, comforting him and helping him get over his tremendous heartache. When he finally saw Midna again, it was as though he had seen somebody come back from the dead. We both fully believed that we would never see her again. Link went through a gamut of emotions; shock at seeing her in the flesh, then anger at her for breaking his heart, confusion because of her actions, and then forgiveness, because he realized that she had spent their entire year apart looking for a way to find him again. Her genuine remorse and declaration of her true feelings for him had gained her his trust and friendship once more. It was not long after that they fell for each other all over again.

Now, after eight months of watching their relationship grow, I should have been used to being the odd one out by now. But the disheartening feeling of being the lonely one in the presence of a happy couple was never one that could be easily shaken, especially when the unwelcome feeling latched on to my heart and stayed with me long after I had left the couple to themselves.

I pushed my self-pity to the side and reminded myself that I was here to enjoy the day.

Suddenly I realized that Midna was wearing shoes. Never in my life had I seen anything covering up her delicate feet, let alone a pair of giant, leather boots that looked hideous with her willowy frame. It didn't make sense to me at first, but then again I guess she needed them for protection against the snow. It bothered me to see her wearing something so out of her element. They looked like they were borrowed from Link. Or Rusl. Maybe even Ganondorf! They were terribly bulky! I was so bemused at Midna's shoes, that I nearly ran into her when she and Link stopped walking.

Link was gazing wistfully off to the left, his blonde hair blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. I could see the wheels in his mind turning. Midna was curiously looking up at him.

"What's wrong, Link?" She asked as she raised a hand to his cheek and directed his gaze to her. I watched as Link laid his hand over hers and brought it down to his chest.

"Nothing," he replied reassuringly, his voice full of gentleness and comfort. "I just want to go explore that part Faron. I've never been there before"

"Well, I thought you knew these woods?" I asked, surprised that Link hadn't covered every inch of the forests already. Scarlet and sapphire eyes turned to look at me, acknowledging my presence for the first time in a while.

We were standing in the middle of a well-worn path, the very one that I had ridden my horse on barely an hour ago. I could just see where my mare had made dents in the perfect blanket of snow. In fact, I spotted Hyrule field peeking out at me just beyond the line of trees several miles ahead of us. Faron Woods was almost at its end.

Link started to answer my question. "When I was a kid, Rusl and Uli always warned me about Faron Woods. They told me that I needed to stay on the path and to never go into the trees." He responded as he looked back into the depths of the forest again. "They said that this part of the woods was dangerous…"

Rusl and Uli were some of the kindest people I had ever been privileged to meet. They had practically raised Link since childhood, becoming his surrogate parents for his boyhood years. I never felt comfortable asking Link where his birth parents were…

He broke through my thoughts as he continued on with his explanation. "So, I know Ordon Woods like the back of my hand, but I don't know this part of Faron that well. Now, I guess nobody can tell me not to go in there. I'm sure that nothing in Faron is as dangerous as what I've faced in the past, so it can't be too bad," he rationalized out loud. Midna's face grew progressively sour as she realized what Link was saying.

"You aren't telling me that we're going deeper IN to Faron, are you?" she asked, crossing her arms angrily and taking a step back from Link. "I thought we would be turning back soon! It's cold and wet and I'm ready to NOT be outside."

"I know Midna, but I'd really like to go there now! I think it would be fun to go now when it's all snowy. Don't you, Zelda?" Link turned to me for support. Midna was scowling at me, daring for me to agree with the wolf-boy. Link was pleading at me with his great, big eyes. Normally, I wasn't the adventurous type, but the idea was so appealing to me. I often wondered what it was like to have journeyed across Hyrule with Link and Midna. Taking a walk through an unexplored part of a small wood was nothing compared to trekking across the entire country, but it was monumental to me. I looked at Midna, who was still silently threatening me, but Link's earnest expression was more imploring. I would just have to make it up to Midna later.

* * *

**Perhaps that idea had ****not** been such a good one. This part of the forest was old and ominous. The leafless trees were bent and gnarled. Their trunks were twisted in such a forceful way, that they looked to be trapped in a wild dance, the movement frozen for all of time. A thickness hung in the air, suffocating us. Maybe it was because the old trees grew so closely together. Not a breath of life stirred. The entire forest was devoid of any kind of bird, animal, or footprints signifying the presence of a creature. But I did not think that we were alone. Something in the woods knew that we were here. I felt as if unseen forces were whispering dark secrets all around me, wanting to be barely heard but never fully understood.

Link and Midna were not speaking as we wound our way through the thick grove of trees. By their body language, I could tell that they were not comfortable either. The Hero not only had his arm protectively around Midna, but his other arm was linked through mine.

None of us spoke. My nerves were frayed by the stillness I wanted to break the unsettling silence that was pressing down on us.

"Did you know that Hyrule Castle and Castle Town used to be located somewhere not too far from here?" I asked hesitantly. Link glanced in my direction and shook his head "no." Midna ignored me. My words didn't stop spilling out of my mouth though. I always had a stubborn need to finish whatever thought had popped into my mind.

"Yes…over a century ago, these woods surrounded the old castle and the old town. But the Royal Family and all of the Hyrulians moved north. Everything about Hyrule seems to have changed in the last hundred years, but nobody really knows why! Maybe these woods hold the key to that mystery?"

Link politely echoed my curiosity, but I could tell that neither of them was very interested in what I just said.

Politically, I was brilliant. I could be placed in any setting with the most obnoxious of politicians, or be faced with the most daunting of tasks and it was a breeze for me. I was smart and tactful and cunning. Socially, however, I lacked any sort of skill. "Stiff" and "boring" were words that came to mind whenever I thought of myself in social settings. Wit and cleverness were Midna's talents, and I envied her. I tried so hard to be intriguing, but I saw myself as dull and tasteless as wood shavings. So, I bitterly decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the day.

Not long after that pointless exchange, Link became very tense. I could sense him growing more anxious. He let go of Midna and I, rather forcefully, and he started walking in front of us. Midna, who looked very surprised, started trudging along with me. Our eyes met, and we exchanged a look.

"What was that all about?" Midna stated, gesturing to Link's back. I shook my head, not really sure what to say to her.

We both kept following the boy, who picked his way through the forest like a hound on the scent of a fox. Us women, encumbered by our long skirts, did our best to keep pace with him.

After a few minutes, Midna grabbed the sleeve of my black cloak and leaned close to my face. "Zelda, do you feel like Link knows where he's going? I just feel like he's looking for something." She asked. Midna was never one to be anxious, but her voice betrayed concern. My defenses immediately rose at her words. I looked at Link, watching for any kind of sign that I had missed earlier in our walk.

He didn't even seem to realize that we were following him. His entire focus was on some invisible destination, and his pace was quickening even as I observed him. Branches and bushes were at the mercy of his strong arms hurrying to push them out of his way. Not even a large rock hidden under the snow hindered his steps as I watched him casually trip over it. In fact, he didn't even register it at all. He kept going. Link was lost in his own world.

I turned back to Midna, and shared my concerned feelings with her.

"Midna, what is happening to him? Have you ever seen him act like this? It's like he's in a trance!"

Midna shook her head no, strands of hair falling onto her face. She was frowning at Link's back. In the confines of her mind, I knew that she was ordering Link to snap out of whatever spell he was under.

"Zelda, I will tell you now that Link is not in his right mind, and he didn't start acting funny until we went into this blasted forest. We need to get him out. Now."

I told myself that we were worrying for nothing; Link had slain the most powerful enemy in generations. He could take care of himself. Nothing could be worse than before, right? I decided to call out to him, to put our minds at ease and prayed to the goddesses that he would respond to me. If he didn't answer like I expected him to, then we were possibly in a world of trouble.

"Link! Don't you think we should head back?"

To my dismay, he didn't even flinch or turn his head at the sound of my voice. The forest continued to pull him deeper in. I heard Midna groan in frustration.

"Link!" She was going to try now. "Are you even hearing us? Let's just turn around and go back home. I promise, I'll go sliding on that ice with you if we just leave this place!" Nothing but silence answered her.

Suddenly, he broke out into a full run.

"LINK! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Midna yelled as she hitched up her skirt and ran after him, stumbling like a child over her abominably large boots. As a rule, a royal lady never ran, but nobody would ever know about this one incident. It was imperative that I made haste! I ran a few paces, reaching the spot where Link had bolted away, but then I stopped dead in my tracks.

It was like somebody had struck me across the face. A startlingly familiar sensation of deep fear, panic, and desperate urgency ran through me as soon as I hit the point where Link ran. The sounds of Midna clumsily running through the snow and her angry shouts at Link were moving farther away from me. In sheer terror, I stood rooted to the ground. I had never felt such strong emotions before, but somehow I had. I knew feelings that I had never before. It terrified me. Dread filled me and a voice in my head was begging for me to leave.

Something powerful was resting in the woods, and I was about to cross the threshold into the unknown. As much as I wanted to turn around and run for my life, I ran after Midna.

It was not long until I found her. I only had to follow the sounds of her yelling and the trail of boots she had kicked off her feet while running. She was standing in a clearing, her bare feet deep in the snow, and her hands were wrapped like vices around Link's wrists. With my lungs gasping for air, I stopped right behind her.

Link looked bizarre. His normally bright eyes were glazed over, not fully registering the two women standing in front of him. He had the look of a person who had not yet fully awoken from a deep sleep.

"Link, what's gotten into you? Why did you run off?" Midna sharply asked him as she shook his arms. Link was gazing down at her, but he didn't answer. Midna tried again.

"…Link…LINK?" She screeched, panic giving an edge to her voice. She was shaking him like rag doll. His head flopped around sickeningly as his limp body was being shaken. Midna stopped and let go of his arms. Trembling hands covered her gaping mouth as she backed away from him. I could see her eyes widen with alarm as she realized that she couldn't wake Link up.

After a few seconds that seemed an eternity, Link slowly blinked his eyes and looked somewhat alive. I exhaled a gust of air that I didn't even realize I had been holding. Midna buried her face in her hands and I could hear her muffled sigh of relief. But the Hero's abnormal behavior was far from over.

"Where in the world were you going?" I asked him, wanting to get in a word before Midna did. Link only smiled blankly at me.

"Don't ever do that to me again! You nearly killed me!" Midna had found her voice again. She grabbed his hand and tried to yank him back onto the path we had just ran from. "Come ON, Link! Let's just get out of here!"

He freed himself from Midna's grasp and turned around. I saw Midna grab for his hand, but he had walked out of her reach.

"I want to go inside." He replied. His voice was dead, vacant and almost childlike, sounding nothing like he normally did. Link raised his hand and pointed.

Link was pointing at a run-down, old shack. Midna had no reaction other than throwing her hands in the air in hopeless confusion, but I gasped. I knew that place. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew that place, down to it's caved in roof, rotting walls, peeling paint, and dirty glass windows. Except, I remembered it being intact, tidy, and sitting in bright sunshine on a summer's day.

But never before in my entire life had I been here. Oddly enough, as familiar as this shack was to me, I had never laid eyes on this place until now. I was torn between curiosity and terror. It frightened me that I had a strong sense of memory to a place I had never been, just as much as it fascinated me. But I had only a few seconds to take this wonderment in before Link shocked me senseless.

"You can feel it, can't you?"

Link was speaking in stilted syllables, and his voice was full of strange excitement.

How did he know that I was feeling something? I was so intrigued by what he said, that it took me a while to realize that he was looking at me intently, waiting for an answer. Midna was staring at us with a baffled expression.

"Feel what, Link? Zelda, what is he talking about?" She kept looking back and forth at us, not taking notice of the shack at all. I only stared at Link.

Was there some wild chance that we were sharing the same unusual sensation of familiarity and memory? I could not believe that it was possible. Neither of us had ever been through these woods or seen this shack. There was absolutely no rational explanation for it. It could not be. But I was about to be proven wrong.

Link took no notice of Midna's question or my silence. He continued to smile at me, his face like a blank mask.

"What do you mean, Link?" I asked cautiously, not sure what sort of answer I would get from this strange, new Link.

"You feel like you've been here, but you know you haven't. I feel it too. Somehow, we've been here before. I want to go inside."


	3. Stolen

**Please enjoy the second chapter of Healing the Moon, and happy reading!**

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**The snow did not seem so friendly now. **The sun had broken through a gap in the clouds and it was now angrily blinding our eyes as it reflected off the snow-covered ground. Silently, the three of us crunched our way across the small clearing to the ominous shack.

As we grew closer, I snuck a peek at Link. His face had changed and it was now twisted into a grimace that gave him the look of being in terrible pain. The muscles on his neck were bulging and little beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. His skin was flushed green as though he were suffering from a sudden illness.

I tore my gaze from his startling appearance and glanced over at Midna. Her eyes were full of despair. It tore my heart to see her so despondent. She was never one that was prone to being hysterical or overly cautious.

I wondered what my own face looked like. Were my eyes pools of emotion, or did they carry the same abnormal glaze as Link's? Was my expression an unrecognizable mask? What did the outside see that the inside could not?

We stopped at the broken threshold. The decrepit awning hung precariously over the doorway. The door itself had long since fallen off its rusty hinges and it now lay on the ground, barely concealed by the snow. Link hesitated for a moment, and then he disappeared into the room beyond.

"I don't think it looks safe to go into, Zelda." Midna whispered as she tightly grabbed my wrist.

My common sense agreed with her, but my morbid curiosity outweighed any other rational thought.

"Let's just take a look inside, and maybe Link will go back to normal," I lamely answered back. We both knew that it couldn't be as simple as that, but I just HAD to go inside and figure out what had drawn us there and why I had such a strong connection to this place I had never been. Midna cut me a sharp glare and shook her head in disapproval. We followed Link into the room.

The house had once been a tiny dwelling. Only remnants of a loft and a few scant pieces of furniture remained. Broken beams lay haphazardly across the snow-covered floor. Flecks of snow fell from a giant hole in the ceiling, letting in dim sunlight. A few beams of light fell onto the floor, one in particular illuminating a hole in the rotting floorboards.

I gasped as I saw the pale face of a mask with streaks of red and blue beneath the floor. Brilliant white tufts of hair fell against the snow, making everything else dull in comparison. Black eyes were staring back at me with familiarity. As ridiculous as it may sound, I knew that the mask knew me.

And I knew it.

I would have been more worried, but at that moment, everything began to feel numb and my eyes locked with the ones of the mask. I felt compelled to go over to it, to touch it and put it on my face. As the mask pulled me in, I felt it sending me through a torrent of emotions that did not belong to me.

Anger. Deep, seething anger with a powerful will to overwhelm stirred inside me. A tension so strong ran through my senses as I felt a momentous, bitter victory about to reach long-awaited completion. Eagerness came next. It was akin to the impatient excitement of a young child about to receive a gift or play their favorite game. The impatience quickly grew strong, and I felt myself become frustrated with waiting.

"A mask…" Midna whispered beside me, breaking off my connection. I slowly turned towards her, my mind still fuzzy. I felt no emotion of my own. Everything was slow and dreamlike. I knew that Midna was talking, but I did not care. I wanted her to be quiet so I could listen to the mask speaking to me. It _WAS_ speaking to me. Not in words, but in feelings.

Then as quickly as it had been taken, my mind became my own once more. I became aware of Link standing right over where the mask lay in the snow and dirt. His body was perfectly still and straight. His head was bent, looking down at the mask and his hair was covering his face. Beside me, Midna was staring from the mask to Link. The poor girl was swaying back and forth, shaking her head and saying "no" over and over again. The mask was speaking to her too. She did not like it.

My hands flew to my neck, where I could feel my pulse racing. Everything was spinning. I clamped my eyes shut and all I could see was masks; masks in different hiding spots all over the little house. Then the same masks were lying in a perfect circle on the floor. There was the face of a Goron, there was the face of a Zora, and many other faces I could not put a name to. I was afraid of them. Then they were my friends. I wanted them. Then a mask stood out to me. It was being placed beneath the very floor we now stood on. I could see flashes of red and blue. Somebody was telling me not to touch it. I trusted that somebody. Link's face suddenly flashed across my vision, but he was younger, a child. His boyish voice was telling me to leave the mask alone. The mask was powerful. It was dangerous.

My eyes flew open to the sight of link bending over and holding the mask in his fingers. Midna was saying "no" much louder than before. In fact, she was practically yelling at him. My ears were ringing and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Everything was happening too fast and too slowly.

"Don't touch that one!" I screeched over Midna, not even knowing where the words came from. All I knew was that whatever Link had in his hand was extremely powerful and not something to be trifled with.

Link looked up at me and smiled mischievously. Then he began to observe the mask, looking at it as though he were getting reacquainted with an old friend. He stroked the painted skin with care, turning the mask over in his fingers so that the face was looking at the floor. He was preparing to put it on.

Midna was tugging at my sleeve again. "Zelda, what in the name of Din is that? I'm having feelings that I don't understand, and I think it's because of that mask. It's what's been cursing Link, isn't it?"

I gathered my thoughts, not sure how to explain it to her.

"It's doing things to me too. I can't think clearly. I know that mask. I've seen it before somehow, I'm not even sure why, but…I feel that we need to get it away from Link, immediately."

Midna nodded with agreement. We clasped each other's hands and stumbled over to where Link stood. We could not even walk steadily.

"Link," Midna started in a calm voice. "We don't know what that thing is, so we should leave it here. Zelda says that it's dangerous, and I agree with her, and that doesn't happen every often. So put it down and let's forget about it."

I was staring at the mask, now unable to feel anything from it. Its sole attention was on Link. It wanted Link, and Link wanted it.

Link laughed and slyly looked at Midna. She stepped back in fright. Link had a feral, wild look in his eyes and he grinned like a madman.

"It's mine," was all he said.

Before we could even breathe, Link raised the mask up and brought it to his face. The second the wood made contact with his skin, Link bent forward violently and his fingers struggled to pull the offensive thing off his face. Midna and I were knocked to our knees as an unnatural gale swept through the shack, causing every flake of snow to swirl around us in a little storm.

I could not see the mask upon his face, but I could hear his cries of panic and pain through the loud wind. Beside me, Midna had her hands pressed against her ears, the sound of Link's struggle unbearable to listen to. Her whimpers became louder as Link began to cry out for help. I tried to get to my feet, but I was helplessly tossed back down to the floor.

The tenor pitch of Link's voice was starting to sound deeper. His cries were coming from deep within his chest, but I knew that Link did not have such a low voice. Link gave one last almighty groan in his new voice and he threw his head into the air, his spine swiftly snapping back into place.

My friend was desperately clutching at the edges of his face, but I could see that there was nothing to grab but skin. By some curse, the mask had molded onto Link's face. The red and blue were slashed across his face now.

Midna and I watched in horror as Link bent backwards, lifting his face to the heavens. He was making a hideous sound. I cannot call it yelling or screaming. It was an otherworldly wail, making every tiny hair on my body stand up. I closed my eyes and waited for it to end. Midna was weeping. She was weeping. Midna never cried. Of all the ghastly things that we had seen that morning, the sight of her in tears was the final straw. I began to cry with her.

Then everything was silent. Our tears were stilled as we listened for Link to tell us that he was fine. Surely he had taken that awful mask off? I dared not look at the place where I knew Link would be, so I looked at Midna instead.

Her scarlet eyes were bigger than I had ever seen them, and her mouth hung open. She was staring where Link was.

I took a deep breath and turned my head towards the inevitable, expecting to see his body lying motionless on the floor.

**Every life has defining moments. **The day that you first cross paths with your soul mate, or when we cease to think like children and start to have adult rationalizations. If we narrowly escape an early death, or when we begin to understand that life is not as simple as we once thought can be moments that stand out in time. There are thousands of possibilities for little events to make a dent in our psyche, but only a few can impact us enough to be called defining.

When I looked up and faced the aftermath of Link's poor choice to put on the mask, what I saw standing there in his place can be called one of the ultimate defining moments of my life.

The day that Zant, the usurper Twili King, came storming into my castle, threatened my life, and bargained for the safety of my people was a defining moment for me. It challenged me to have extreme faith that the goddesses would see myself and all of Hyrule through the darkness that was upon us. I went against every rule and practice used to govern a kingdom that my father had taught me, and I grew as a leader because of it.

However, the mind can never see past what is right in front of us, so I did not imagine that anything positive could spring forth from such a bleak situation, and as I took in the sight before me, I had the same doubts once more.

"LINK! TAKE THE MASK OFF NOW! PLEASE!" Midna's cry echoed through the house, which was more damaged now than it had been when we first came inside.

But Link was not with us anymore. Link was gone. In his place, towering over my frenzied companion and I, was a giant man clad in white.

How could his face so strongly resemble that of Link's but not even be Link? If Link had an older, taller brother, this man could have been him! My mind could not make sense of it. Maybe the mask stole the basic features of whoever happened to put it on their face? However it came to be that this face looked so much like my friend's, this thing was not my friend at all.

His hair, seconds before only fake, was still perfectly white and very real, framing his narrow face in the same way Link's had framed his. Two pointed ears stuck out from the hair, suggesting that he could be some sort of Hylian, or had been made by a Hylian. The origin of this thing's creator was the least of my concerns at that point.

His pale skin still bore the red and blue stains. The clothes he wore were strange to me. His tunic was white, but the unusual metal armor that he was wearing bore a yellow triangle and a crescent moon on either side of his chest. At his neck were three round, blue stones.

Heavy gloves enveloped his huge hands and leather gauntlets covered his thick wrists. He wore a dark, skintight shirt under his tunic, and his pants were of the same color and material.

And if I had thought that Midna's borrowed boots were big before, they were nothing compared to the gigantic leather monstrosities that I saw on his feet.

The green hilt of a sword stuck out from behind his pale head, warning me of the presence of the weapon that he carried.

The man was tall, as tall as I remembered Ganondorf being, but much less bulky. Even so, this person was still very muscular and had a strong physique. His wide shoulders and powerful arms could have picked me up and carried me over his head like a doll. The old Link was a child compared to this body-thief.

I have saved the best for last. The eyes of this man were what frightened me the most. There is a saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I had never given that statement much thought before, but now I could truly understand what it meant.

His eyes were completely free of any color whatsoever. There was no black pupil or colorful iris, but only a blank, luminescent canvas of indecipherable whiteness. There was no emotion that could be revealed through his eyes. The eyes can tell a story whether they want to or not, but if they eye is vacant of anything, can a story be told through them? Not a single emotion or thought can be detected from nothing. How ironic that a powerful thing had gotten into our minds and feed us it's thoughts and feelings, but now there was no way to know what was happening on the inside without going to him and asking. I was unsettled to realize that I was vulnerable to this man, this thing that had stolen my friend's body, and he was not vulnerable to me.

Midna was scrambling to her feet as fresh tears welled up in her eyes. She began to approach him. The giant man turned his face to her and the red stripes that served as his eyebrows furrowed together in a frown. His lips tightened in a sneer and he uncrossed his arms and balled his hands into fists.

"This isn't funny Link. For the love of all the goddesses, please take off that mask! _You're scaring me!_" Her hand reached up to touch the scowling face that had replaced the one of her love. Within inches of her fingertips grazing the markings on his skin, the man pushed her hand out of the way and he roughly shoved Midna back.

A howl of fury and confusion rose from Midna. If I had any doubts in my mind that the true Link was not gone, they were crushed now. Link would never lay a hand on Midna. That boy treated the ones he loved as though they were made of the finest porcelain that would break at a single ill-placed touch.

The man took several thundering steps toward the door before he caught sight of me. For a fleeting moment, he looked utterly shocked. A stern scowl quickly replaced what I saw on his face. Before I knew it, the white giant was walking to where I stood. I felt my stomach clench as he towered over me, his white eyes boring into mine. As he looked upon me, I realized that he did not glare at me with the same disdain as he did Midna. His brow was ever so slightly softened and the corners of his angry mouth twitched. I looked up at him from my spot on the floor, too stunned to make a move or speak. Fear was coursing through my veins as I waited for him to strike me down.

He blinked several times and then he was gone, disappearing through the door and into the snowy world beyond.

Somehow, I found myself standing on my feet. Midna ran past me and bolted outside, chasing after the man and yelling at him to stop.

Ever since I had seen the strange man clad in white standing in the little house, my mind seemed far away from my body. My pathetic brain could not keep with up the swift, terrible changes that were taking place before me. Luckily, my thoughts were finally catching up with real life and my common sense was returning.

I was not only Zelda; I was a diplomatic Princess and the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom! Handling stressful situations was my strength. It was solely up to me to handle this one now. A weak sense of peace surged through me and I followed Midna out the door.

The man was calmly walking away from us, his steady stride carrying him out of the clearing. Midna was screaming loudly enough to wake the dead, hardly able to stand up or take more than a few stumbling steps at a time. I easily caught up to her and grabbed her hand. She jerked her hand free of mine, but I caught it again and held on tightly.

"Midna! Midna! Listen to me!" I spoke with as much authority that I could muster. My friend looked at me, but did not see. I was afraid that she wouldn't understand what I was going to ask of her. If she did not cooperate, then all could be lost.

"ZELDA! TELL LINK TO COME BACK! TELL HIM TO STOP PLAYING AROUND! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?"

"Midna! Quiet down! I will talk to that man and set things right, but I need for you to stay here and let me handle this. So please, PLEASE stay here and let me talk to Li—uh…whoever that man is." I lay my hand on Midna's cheek to calm her.

"It's Link, Zelda. Link is still there! WE KNOW WHO HE IS! HE'S LINK!"

"Midna! Are you going to do what I asked?"

"YES ZELDA! JUST GO! HURRY, BEFORE HE GETS AWAY!"

"Of course Midna, just stay put!"

"Zelda, I can't lose him again! I can't go through that again, please help me!" Midna pleased desperately, her voice no higher than a hoarse whisper. A few hot tears fell onto my hand, staining the soft leather of the glove. Midna was trembling beneath my hand. I didn't have much time to waste. I quickly patted her cheek, hoping that the small action would comfort her, even a little. Then I turned away from her, and for the second time that day, I picked up my skirts and ran.

I followed a set of deep holes in the snow. They were, hopefully, the footprints of the man that I was seeking. I scanned the forest, looking for a flash of now familiar red and blue in the thickness of the trees.

By the grace of the goddesses I spotted him after a few moments, white amongst white, looking very ghostlike in the spooky woods. My feet ran faster after him. Even with all the noise that I was making as I ran through snow and branches, he did not look back. I did not call out to him. Words or sounds did not seem to affect him. I had a feeling that he would not respond to me if I tried.

My pace was caught up with his now. I laughed with irony as I saw that the man wore the same type of floppy hat on his head that Link did. His was white, of course.

The hem of his tunic trailed out behind him as he walked. I stretched out my hand and sharply pulled the edge of it to get his attention.

And I surely did. In the blink of an eye the man whipped around and caught my wrist with a slap that echoed through the trees. His blank eyes bore into mine and the contours of his face were pulled into a ferocious glare.

Then my stomach dropped to my knees as he opened his mouth and spoke for the very first time.

"Why do you stop me?"

* * *

Oh no! Link! What will happen next, I wonder? Thanks for reading :)


	4. Speak

Here is the next installment of Healing the Moon. I was going to wait another week to post this chapter, but I just couldn't help myself! Thanks to all who have reviewed! Your positive and constructive feedback is greatly appreciated :) Please enjoy and happy reading.

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My mouth hung open and I stared at him like a fool. His voice! I had never heard such a rich, powerful voice before in my life. It was deep and smooth and melodic, almost as if it were a song. It was also dark and angry and unintentionally seductive, which made my stomach flutter like a helpless bird. I had the most unruly desire to grab his face and kiss the source of that dangerous voice.

But instead I just stood there with his hand still grasped around my wrist. The man raised his eyebrow and thrust my arm away. He scoffed at me and turned his back to continue walking through the forest. It took me a few moments to realize that I should be following him instead of watching him leave, too stunned by his entrancing voice to even move.

"No! Wait! Please!" I called out to his retreating back. I saw his shoulders tense up at the sound of my own wavering, nervous voice. It did not look as though he was going to listen. Panic wildly rose up in my throat. He did not stop. He kept walking through the forest, ignoring me. It struck me that we just might be losing him forever. I dreaded what would happen when I went back to where I left Midna, only to tell her that Link was gone, never to return. The knowledge of losing him again would destroy her.

"I need to talk to you!" I yelled. Nothing. He did not acknowledge me in the slightest.

"Just…please" I whispered pitifully, my hopes dashed as I watched this unknown enemy carry away my friend's body through the woods.

Desperate and with nothing else to say, I cried out, "let me help!" I did not know where those words came from—they just seemed the right thing to say.

He paused.

Mercifully, he stopped his marching and stood still in the snowy forest. To my enormous relief, he stayed put until I was standing behind him. But I could feel that he was not happy that I kept interrupting him.

He gave a great sigh and crossed his arms.

"What?" was all he said, turning his head around slightly. His sharp profile looked so much like Link's. I couldn't tell if his blank eyes were looking back at me, or avoiding my gaze. "What do you have to say to me, Princess?"

It was all I could do to quell the questions that swarmed inside my head. A man that was a terrifying mask only moments ago knew that I was the Princess. How? I would think on it later. Now I just needed him to talk to me.

I hesitated for a second, hoping that he would not get impatient a second time. Words were impossible to form. I had to think of the right thing to say, but nothing would come to mind. Why was this so difficult for me?

"Who are you?" I finally blurted out, unable to come up with anything more clever. The man looked at me over his shoulder, still not turning completely around towards me. His mouth was pulled into a sneer.

"Didn't you once call me the Fierce Deity, or have you forgotten over the years?" he asked, his glorious voice laced with bitterness. I once called him the "Fierce Deity?" I had never uttered such words before in my life! What was there to even forget? I pushed my mounting confusion aside. This was no time to let my emotions get out of hand.

Ignoring what he had just said, I asked, "What have you done with Link's body?" and prayed that he would know of whom I was talking about. "And how do you know who I am?" I finished.

With a haughty laugh, the man slowly turned around. He took a step closer to me, closing the small distance between us. I nervously took a step back, fearing of being too close to him.

"Princess, his body is mine now," he retorted, opening up his arms and gesturing to himself. "Also…how could I forget you?"

His sneer began to return to his face. Anger rushed through me as I saw that his attitude was dripping with arrogance. He was proud of what he had done, and he was enjoying the fact that he knew so much that I did not! I suddenly felt foolish for being so entranced by his voice moments ago. My skin felt hot as it flushed red from embarrassment. I glared at him, unsure of how to respond to his cryptic answers and furious at the whole situation. Nobody ever treated me with such outright disrespect. I did not have long to think about it. He once again stepped beyond the boundaries of my comfort and stood toe to toe with me, his smirking face towering above mine. As I kept on glaring up at him, a boldness that I had never known was rising in me.

"I don't care what or who you are. Stop toying with me! If you know who I am, then you know not to be so brash with me!" I sounded like Midna! Who was this girl that had just said those words? Whoever this girl was, she did not act very much like a demure Princess.

But the words seemed to have some sort of effect on him. He was no longer smirking. In fact, his entire demeanor changed instantly. He again became the scowling, seething giant that had stormed out of the run-down house. His eyes narrowed at me until they became glowing white slits. My confidence quickly deflated. I would have gladly dealt with arrogance over rage.

"You would do well to care about who I am, girl," he hissed venomously. I saw his hand move upwards and before I could shy away, he had my chin in a tight grip. In fright, I tried to pull away from his hold, but I was trapped. He leaned his face dangerously close to mine. I could feel his breath warming the icy air between our faces. His pale eyes were locked on mine. My heart thudded as I wished to Nayru that I could see what was going on behind the whiteness. He frowned at me, his eyebrows pulled together and his lips were a thin line. He was studying me, calculating, forming thoughts that I could only guess at…

"How can you not remember me?" he asked sharply. I jumped at his sudden words. I opened my mouth to respond that I could not remember something I had never seen before, but he continued to speak, leaving his question unanswered.

"I know that you're the same girl, just grown up. It can't have been more than a decade since then. You don't look _that _much older…you and the boy both." He started to turn my face this way and that, trying to inspect me at a different angle. "The same power still runs through you. The same power still runs through him…"

My stomach tightened. He could sense the power of my Triforce, and obviously Link's Triforce as well. Since he had possession of Link's body, did he have access to the Triforce of Courage's power as well?

"How did you forget me?" he asked, once again interrupting my thoughts and making me jump like a frightened cat. "I certainly seemed to have made an impression on you as a girl. I'm almost offended," he sarcastically added. His grip tightened and I winced in pain. The man had a frightening look on his face. It was the same feral, wild face that Link had seconds before he put on the horrendous mask. Real fear stabbed through my wildly pounding heart.

"How dare you forget about me! How dare you forget about me when I have relived your rejection over and over and over again! I remember you SO well. More than I remember the boy even. If it had not been for you, he would have kept me. I could have finished this long ago. I blame this entirely on you, Princess," he said, his voice barely above a cool, sharp whisper. I could feel the loathing and bitterness in his words.

"I don't remember you! I've never seen the likes of you, or your mask, or that shack, or this woods before in my life!" I pleaded. Tears started stinging my eyes, and I cursed them. I cursed the weakness that I was showing before this man. Nobody, not in all my years of dealing with harsh, shrew politicians who thought they could break my spirit just because I was an "emotionally charged woman" had ever succeeded in making me shed a single tear. Not even the bane of my country's existence, Ganondorf himself made me cry.

But this man was about to, and I didn't even know who he was.

"What year is it?" he hissed. I told him the year. He forcefully shoved away my chin. I stumbled back a few steps. His hands shot up to his head and he angrily tugged on his white bangs.

His face looked genuinely shocked. "You're lying to me!" he accused. He began to shake his head in disbelief. "It cannot be! You would have to be over a hundred years old!"

Perhaps I was finally gaining the upper hand. "I'm 22 years old, and I am not a liar."

"No…" he replied weakly. "You are the same girl. Exactly the same! Who are you? You are Princess Zelda?"

Like a new day, it dawned on me why he was so adamant that we knew each other. Though I could not make complete sense of it, I could understand where all my foreign memories had come from. I wanted to laugh. How could I have not realized it before? Over a century ago, the woman of my namesake, my past spiritual incarnation, my great grandmother Zelda, had only been just a girl. He thought that I was her! He had somehow met her, and a past incarnation of Link as well.

He stared at me imploringly, waiting for an answer.

"Well, I am Princess Zelda. Just not the one you know of. I'm guessing that you are thinking of my great grandmother. So, now that we have that cleared up, can you please explain to me how you knew her, and who you are?"

The man just stared at me, dazed at this new bit of information. He blew a great bit of air through his nose like an irate bull.

I took his silence as an opportunity to ask him once again, "What do you want with him?" As before, he paid no heed to my inquiry, but he crossed his arms and looked over his shoulder at the woods behind him.

Then he sighed. It was a deep, sad sound, layered with meanings I could not fathom. It was a sign of resignation.

Snowflakes started to gently fall from the sky. The quiet woods settled around us as the tension from before slowly eased away. Defeat and disappointment replaced the emptiness that was left behind. He was a very emotional being, I decided. I had never felt another's emotions so clearly, as though our thoughts were mingled and we shared each feeling we had.

My heart began to pity him. Somehow, I knew that he was hiding some great misery behind a façade of antagonism. I wanted to go over to him and lay my head against his chest and comfort him, to help him solve whatever problems he faced.

Then I remembered that he had lured us into the woods, stolen Link's body, and had been hostile to Midna and I. Maybe I was just falling prey to another one of his mind tricks. Or maybe my heart was too big for my own good.

The deep timbre of his voice stirred the stillness. "I'm going to break this curse."

My heart soared. He was going to set Link free! A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, but I suppressed it, knowing that being smug might invoke a change of mind. "You're going to let Link take off the mask," I half asked, half declared.

He threw his arms in the air in a fit of exasperation and I'm sure that he rolled his eyes at me, if they had been normal eyes.

"NO!" he yelled, truly raising his voice for the first time. I stood my ground, but felt my spirit sinking. "I am going to break MY curse! And I am going to use HIS body until I AM FREE!"

I clenched my jaw, willing myself not to cry or lose my temper like he was. I took a quick, calming breath and closed my eyes. "You are cursed? What curse ails you?" I asked, not expecting an answer, just more arguments.

But he did answer, finally responding to one of my questions.

"A curse that was placed on me long ago."

I opened my eyes. The snow was falling harder now. I needed to get back to the castle. It was growing late in the afternoon. At this point, I would not reach home until evening fell.

I had this one moment to try and convince him to return with me. "Would you being freed from your curse mean that you would relinquish your hold on Link's body?"

"Perhaps."

"Then return to my castle with me, and I will do everything in my power to help you break your curse and return you to whatever normal self you have."

"Why should I accept your help?"

"Why are you being so harsh?"

"You were harsh to me once. You ignored my pleas and left me to rot in the ground!"

"That was not me! That was my great grandmother!"

"You might as well be the same as her."

"Do not punish me for the choice _that_ Zelda made! I need you to put that aside and accept my help! Please, I am not accustomed to begging, but I would get on my knees and beg if that is what I need to do to make you go back with me!"

I felt so stupid! I hated being so vulnerable, but it seemed as though there was no other way. I watched his face as he considered my words. His gloved hands stroked his smooth chin thoughtfully. "You would beg? And you would ultimately be doing this for your friend, and not for me?"

"Yes, ultimately, I would be…for him" I admitted, hoping that my honesty would not work against me.

"You care a great deal for him." It was a statement, not a question.

" I do, and I am not the only one who does."

"He cares for you as well." He was looking down at me with…compassion? I looked up at him and wondered what in the name of the goddesses he was. I guess it was a mystery I would have to slowly solve over time.

"Please," I softly begged. "Will you please just come back with me? I promise, I will do everything in my power to help you."

He gazed at me with his white stare and I waited with bated breath.

"Alright," he murmured in his deep voice. "I will come with you."

"Thank you," I sighed with relief, but I couldn't help but ask him one last time. "Please, at least tell me who you are."

He looked past me, into the woods beyond. "I am the Fierce Deity," he said absently. I turned around to see what had caught his attention.

Midna. She was standing next to a tree, her arm wrapped around the slim trunk as the snow flurries swirled around her. I could see that she had regained her composure. Her eyes were ablaze and she was glaring hatefully at the man who called himself the Fierce Deity. The hood of her cloak was up, casting her face into shadow and making her look like a malevolent forest spirit.

I opened my mouth to greet her, but she had already begun to speak. "We are not going to help _him_," she commanded. I looked back at my tall companion. He looked ready for a challenge. His fingers were grazing the hilt of his sword and a wicked smirk played on his lips. I immediately foresaw a mutual hatred between the two.

"Please don't draw your sword," I asked gently. He did not turn to me, but he reluctantly let his hand fall to his side.

"Stay there. I will talk to her."

Subconsciously, my hand rose to touch his arm. I don't know what for, it just felt like it needed to be done. He pointedly shied away from my hand, not allowing me to come any closer. His face looked incredulous. I could imagine what his eyes would have looked like, what emotions they would be revealing if they had color to them.

Wounded, I turned from him as fast as I could, flustered by his outright denial. It stung me that the idea of me having any contact with him was so out of the question. Midna squinted her eyes at me as I walked over to her. She could most likely see the redness all over my face. Whether it was from embarrassment or hurt, I could not even tell myself.

When I was stopped in front of her, she reached out and grabbed my shoulders. "Zelda! What are you thinking? You can't possibly be thinking of giving him _help_!" I nodded my head yes, still too out of sorts to form words.

She scoffed at me. "Help with what?! Help him steal more people's bodies?! No! This is almost as bad as you handing over your kingdom to that lunatic, Zant! We should just use magic to force if off him and destroy the mask when it's over with!"

"Midna, I know your sentiments on that past decision, and now is not the time to question me. I have made the choice to help him because it's the only way to get Link back. Talking him into taking off the mask or compromising with him will not work. He seems far too…obstinate and bull-headed to reason with us and we will not use force! It might hurt Link. And in order for this to work, I need for you to comply with my decision."

A thousand thoughts flashed in Midna's eyes. Her mouth struggled to speak even one. I could tell that there was so much that she wanted to say, but it all came out in a heated, growling shout.

"Zelda! You have been calling the shots all day, and look how things turned out! Its high time that you listen to ME and I say that we force that _thing_ to give us Link back!"

"Whose Kingdom are you in, Midna?" I calmly asked her. A loaded silence followed my question. My friend stuck her chin in the air and placed her hands on her hips. I hated to be so harsh with her, but she was technically one of my subjects while she was in my land. She would do the same if I showed her such disrespect while in her Kingdom.

"I'm sorry, but this is what has to be done. I know that it will be a challenge for us both, but please," I reached up and lifted her hands off her hips. I could tell that she didn't like me very much at the moment. I tenderly squeezed her hands, showing her that I cared. "Don't be so defensive. I know that you're scared for Link, but just trust me, please. I will fix this."

Midna lowered her eyes and a few new tears fell to the ground. "You're right Zelda. I don't want to risk hurting Link. You are in charge, and we'll help _him_, but I still don't like it…" I started walking towards the Fierce Deity. His gaze followed Midna's gait as we approached him.

_Please, please don't antagonize her,"_ I prayed in the back of my mind. His face was placid. I could sense nothing but apathy from him. Midna however, was mustering up the most reproachful glare that she could give. Fierce Deity raised a red brow at her. Midna was chewing on her lip, holding back her biting words. They stood like that for far too long, locked in a battle of wills. I wanted to cry. The situation was so precarious. Midna's self-control could snap at any wrong move from him, and he could disappear in retaliation. I had to break this standoff.

"I think that it would be best to move on. Night will come in a few hours, and we need to be at the castle soon." Nobody said anything. Nobody moved an inch.

"Please…"

He was the first to back down. With an annoyed sigh, much different than his sad one from before, he tore his face away from Midna's and he turned to look at me. The great man extended his arm in an "after you, milady" gesture. I took a step forward, following the path that we had made with our footprints when we first ran to the clearing. Midna grabbed on to my arm as I walked past her. I could feel her trembling beneath my touch. Behind me, I could hear the solid thudding footsteps of the white giant, the Fierce Deity.

What to do next, I wondered to myself, knowing that my journey back would be a quiet one. I would have plenty of time to think. Yet in a way, I could not. My energy was drained from me. I knew next to nothing about this man, and I did not know of a single thing that could help him. What kind of curse turned people into masks? Obviously he was powerful, but how strong was his power? Did he get it from the mask itself, or did he naturally have it to begin with?

All I knew was that I had to be the solid ground in this maddening turn of events. With the man she loved taken away from her so cruelly after a long, hard journey to return to him, I needed to be Midna's anchor. Her sanity was dependent on my guidance. I had to keep her despair at bay, and her fury from fully unleashing. And the liberation of a calloused man from an unknown curse was my burden to bear. All of this strife was happening for the salvation of my dearest friend. He had once saved me. Now it was my time to save him.

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Thank you for reading!


	5. Senses

**I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend :) Are you ready for the next installment of Healing the Moon? I sure am! Please enjoy and happy reading.**

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**I could feel it!** A gentle, barely discernable rhythm, like the beating of a heart, reverberated from the Fierce Deity. It was the piece of Link's Triforce that still lived despite the possession of its bearer's body. I had always been able to detect the aura of Link's Triforce shard. Wisdom and Courage were connected together in a way that Power could never be. Power had become too corrupted by the greed of Ganondorf's soul to ever be in harmony with its two counterparts.

To my good fortune, there was a certain trick that I had discovered. Because of our Triforces, I could sense Link's actions, even when he was miles away. Back when he was mourning over Midna's departure, I used this connection to keep an eye on him, so to speak. Mentally, I would reach out and connect with his Triforce. Whenever he went somewhere, I would know. If he was in the thralls of sadness, or felt a tiny bit of happiness, I could feel it too. When he rode Epona through Hyrule field or stayed up all night, sitting on his bed, I was with him. He never knew that I had this eagle eye view into his life. It was my secret way to keep him safe. When I had seen him getting better, I eased up on watching him this way, gradually easing him off my protection. Nowadays, I kept a small portion of the connection, not that I feared for him anymore! He had become like a brother to me, and I fancied myself like a sister watching over her sibling. I had grown so accustomed to this phenomenon that at times, I almost forgot that it was there.

Now that Link was no longer in charge of his own body, I was clinging on to every sign of his essence that I could detect. Link belonged to the Triforce of Courage, and it belonged to him. Not even Fierce Deity's corruption could take that away from him and I took great comfort in that thought.

But I still feared that this man could control the Triforce. What if it became tainted, like Power? I looked over my shoulder at the giant walking in my wake. He kept his face straight ahead. I had no way to tell if he looked me in the eye or not. He stayed silent. I glanced over at Midna. It was very obvious that she was avoiding my gaze. She looked up at the gray sky, and then down at her bare feet. She had not bothered to retrieve her abominable boots from the woods.

I gave up trying to meet her eye. She probably thought that I was being bothersome, but I just wanted to make sure that she was doing alright. I looked straight ahead, feeling irritated and ignoring everybody else since that was what we were going to do, apparently. We walked past the spring, and I felt a pang of sadness as I remembered how much Link wanted to go slide on the ice. Finally, we came out of the woods and I spotted Link's house, which marked the beginning of Ordon Village. Link's chestnut mare, Epona, was tied to a post next to one of the towering trees.

Out of nowhere, Midna stopped walking and she threw her arm out in front of me. "Wait!" she yelled. "Why are we at Link's house? We should have turned around and gone to Hyrule field when we were still in Faron! Zelda, what are you doing?"

I pushed her arm away, quickly looking back at the Fierce Deity to make sure that he too had stopped walking. He was as solemn and silent as before, not bothering to pay us any attention, but instead was looking over at Epona.

I felt slighted by his distant attitude. I knew that I was being so petty and childish, but I was cross with him for ignoring me! Why couldn't he just talk to me or look at me? My arms crossed and I looked away from him.

I pulled Midna aside, trying to put some space between us and the Fierce Deity. My voice was low and quiet as I spoke.

"Well Midna, I have something that I need to do before we really leave for my castle. I have to get Epona and my own mare for us to ride back." I told her, leaving Fierce Deity out of the discussion, not that he cared.

"I also need to speak with Rusl and Uli. They need to know what happened to Link so they won't be worried about where he is. I'm not planning on telling anybody else besides them the entire truth."

"Sounds fine to me, Zelda," snapped Midna. "Just don't leave me alone with this devil." She violently jabbed her thumb in the direction of Fierce Deity.

"Oh, Midna, please, will you stay here with him? I don't want to bring him into the village. Everybody will ask questions and wonder where Link is, and Ilia might—"

An enormous shadow moved over Midna and I. My mouth clamped shut as the Fierce Deity's overwhelming presence interrupted our conversation. We turned around to see him standing behind us. He was absolutely menacing!

"Do you really think that is a good idea?" Taunted the growling voice of the giant. "Nothing good will come of me being alone with her," he warned. "She hates me, and I'm not too fond of her either. Things might get a little…testy if you left us here."

I could feel that he was aching for Midna to challenge him. A wicked smile played on his lips. That devil wanted a fight! I warily watched him as he reached over his head and started toying with the hilt of his sword. He looked right at Midna, still smiling, and he wrapped his fingers around the green hilt. Metal scraped against metal as the massive sword slowly slid out of its sheath. The Fierce Deity made a big show of stretching his arms to their fullest length, taking the sword almost completely out of the protective case as he did so. When he was finished, he casually let go of the sword and it slid back down into the sheath with a loud clang that made me jump.

Midna was instantly on the defensive. Her arms were already poised to strike. Twilight Magic sparked between her fingers. An ugly snarl rose from within her.

"Are you teasing me?" Her voice quivered with anger. "Do you want a fight? Because you have one!"

Fierce Deity's eyes widened and he laughed darkly. The air around us thickened with tension as he eagerly raised his hands to the hilt once again. He was getting exactly what he wanted. Midna tensed up like a lion waiting to pounce.

Before either one could make the first move I jumped between them, raising my hands.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Both of you STOP!" Everything was turning out to be a disaster.

"Midna, just come with me!" I looked at Midna. Her arms were still raised defensively, and she shook her head stiffly. I turned away from her and I looked at the Fierce Deity. I had ruined his fun. He was scowling furiously at me. His big hands were still grabbing his sword.

"You! Stay here. Can I trust you to stay here?"

He hesitated for a breath of a second. His face was locked on me. I could feel that his eyes were meeting mine, though I could not see it for myself. His lips twitched and I felt him begrudgingly resign himself to this fate.

"Yes, I will stay here," he said in an angry whisper. "But it might not be wise to ever _trust _me…"

Strangely numb, I backed away from him, bumping into Midna as I did. I forgot that she was still with us. Embarrassed, I nodded in response, not even caring what he mean by his last statement, and quickly turned my back to him. He had a very strong effect on me. It made me feel stupid and mortified and like I had cotton for a brain. Whatever he did to me, it needed to stop. Now.

I linked my arm with Midna, and she tensed as the crook of my arm twisted with hers. She still didn't like me. She probably wanted to fight the Fierce Deity and she was angry that I stopped it.

We started walking out of the clearing, heading down the path that took us to Ordon Village. The unnerving sound of a sword being drawn softly cut through the air. Midna and I whipped our heads around to see if he was about to charge us. She was pulling against me, dying to go back and show him a bit of her Magic.

Yet he was not trying to attack us. He had gone back to acting as though we did not exist. The man had drawn his sword, but he was pointing it straight into the sky.

It was the most unusual sword I had ever seen. Two blue and green blades wove together to form a massive helix shaped weapon. The entire thing was as long as Link's body. Thick, heavy steel pierced the sheet of falling snow. Little flakes innocently reflected off the shiny surface. Fierce Deity was holding the sword as though it were nothing. With a great swoosh, the giant swung the blade over his shoulders. His taunt muscles mightily lifted the weight of the sword. He held it there behind his back, looking ready to ferociously charge into battle. The Fierce Deity was an imposing, impressive figure standing there in the snow with his great, double helix sword raised. So enticing was the secrecy about him; I wanted to know every little detail of his past that he was hiding.

Beside me, Midna gave a disgruntled "humph" and she yanked me away from the sight. "Show off…" she muttered under her breath.

"**He is a menace!" **He is a vile, disgusting thing! How dare he do this to Link! To me! Who does he think he is, challenging me to a fight? Why didn't you just let me take him down?!"

Midna was ranting. As soon as we were out of earshot, she had begun spitting vehement remarks about our new companion.

I was still slightly preoccupied with imagining him, the embodiment of power, swinging that massive sword over his head. I was glad that Midna could not see my thoughts. She would tear me to pieces if she knew that I was more intrigued by him than disgusted.

"Midna, you know perfectly well why I could not let you do that. Link is still there, beneath the mask. His body is being used by the Fierce Deity, so it would actually be a very, _very_ bad thing if you did something to harm him. It would be the same as hurting Link."

"What kind of a stupid name is Fierce Deity anyways?" Midna asked as we entered Ordon Village, completely disregarding my answer. She glared at the children, now building an army of snowmen with Ilia. I always suspected Midna of being secretly jealous of Ilia for one thing. Beth, Malo, Talo, and Colin all got along swimmingly with the Mayor's daughter. On the contrary, they all seemed afraid of Midna.

She wrinkled her nose at her rival. "I just hate him. I hate him, I hate him, I _hate_ him! Don't you hate him, Zelda?"

I did not hate him, not at all. I felt like I would have been justified in feeling that way, but I just couldn't bring myself to feel anything other than fear, fascination, and, strangely, pity. Also, what had made him decide to come with me? I had nothing to offer but a desperate promise to help him with a curse that I knew nothing about, and he did not seem so willing to share information with me. What then was his reason for trusting me?

"No, I do not hate him. I do not hate anybody. I just feel like he is broken, and that makes him angry and dangerous, and I cannot help but think that there is something more going on that we do not know. We need to give him some benefit of a doubt."

However, I did not have her convinced. Midna rolled her eyes and made a displeased grunt.

"Really, Zelda? I'm _so_ sure that he's just a misunderstood soul that has some sad, pathetic story that ruined his life and turned him into a—"

"Princess Zelda! Midna!I was wondering where you girls might have wandered off to!" Uli was standing on her front porch, keeping a watchful eye on her son Colin playing with the other village children. Midna and I waved back at her, our nerves suddenly weak. We had not expected to see her so soon. How were we even going to tell her about what had just happened? Midna looked over at me and shrugged her shoulders. Her big eyes suddenly looked worried and she started chewing on her fingernails. I did not know what to say to her, but kept on walking to Uli's house as though we were in a funeral procession. Each step we took became slower and heavier. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation with her and her husband.

As we came closer, Uli's thin brows furrowed the tiniest bit. "Wait a minute. Where's Link?" she asked gently as she looked past our shoulders, expecting to see Link's smiling face come happily running up behind us.

My breath caught in my throat as I stifled an unexpected sob. This kind woman was practically Link's mother. The kind of bond that she shared with him completely outweighed any Triforce connection that him and I happened to have. She had a mother's love, a kind of affection that I could only dream of having for another person. It nearly brought me to tears to imagine if something like this ever happened to one of my future children.

The concern in Uli's eyes grew as she took in our woebegone faces. She hurriedly stepped off her porch and came quickly to meet us.

"What's happened? What's happened to Link?" she asked, looking at us expectantly. I offered my hand to her and she gladly took it.

Where to begin?

"Uli, Midna and I need to speak to you and Rusl privately. Something has gone wrong, and you two are the only people who we feel need to know the entire truth. You must keep what I tell you a secret."

Uli nodded, her impeccably calm demeanor hardly broken. "Of course Princess Zelda. Rusl is in the house with the baby. Please, come inside." She gently pulled my arm and began walking to her house. I turned and gestured for a still-worried looking Midna to come.

We followed Uli, our feet stepping into the dainty prints her stride had made in the snow. Once on the porch, we stamped chunks of ice off our boots. Uli looked down at Midna and her mouth hung open in surprise.

"Goodness Midna! Aren't your feet freezing to death?" Midna also looked down and gave a mirthless laugh.

"I didn't even notice…"

"Oh, well, come on in and let's warm your poor frozen toes by the fire while you girls tell us what happened."

**Any normal person would **not have believed this fantastic tale as true events, but things had happened in Rusl and Uli's lives that were not so normal.

This quiet, genial couple had been heavily involved in helping Link liberate Hyrule from the Twilight Occupation. Their surrogate son once had the power to transform into a shaggy, gray wolf. The woman that this same son loved was a Princess from a parallel dimension.

They accepted things that were a little bizarre.

All through our story of the mask in the woods, the husband and wife sat and patiently listened as if things this like this happened all the time. At dramatic points in the story, Uli would gasp "oh my" and put her hands to her mouth. Rusl looked deep in thought with his head planted on his hands. As our tale went on, he leaned further and farther out of his chair, taking in every detail with great concentration.

Midna stayed mostly quiet, with her feet propped up on a stool next to the fire. The dancing flames reflected on her shiny, tear filled eyes. Reliving our traumatizing afternoon was too painful for her to speak about.

As our story came to an end, Rusl lifted himself out of his chair and began pacing around the room. He repeatedly stroked his chin, gathering his thoughts together.

"Princess," he said abruptly, taking a few paces towards me.

"Yes, sir?"

"May I go see him? May I speak to this…man?"

At first I did not know what to say. I even thought that he wasn't being serious, but his stern expression told me otherwise.

Throughout this conversation with Rusl and Uli, I had been keeping mental tabs on Fierce Deity through the Triforce connection. True to his word, he had stayed put in the clearing after we had left him alone. I could sense him walking around, stopping every few paces. I tried to imagine how he would react to Rusl. The Fierce Deity might see it as an ambush, or a trick. He might feel threatened.

And if he felt like he was in jeopardy, then what kind of awful things would he do to Rusl?

"I'm sorry Rusl. I cannot allow you to do that. This man seems dangerously unstable and I do not wish to see you harmed in any way."

"And you don't want to talk to him," interjected Midna, speaking for the first time in thirty minutes. "Trust me. He's a brute."

"I understand Midna, but I was hoping that I could talk some sense into him, man to man." Rusl crossed his arms and looked at me with defeat. "However, I respect the Princess' decision on how best to deal with him."

Uli stood from her seat and walked over to her husband. She uncrossed his arms and wove her arm around his waist. He did not look at her, but rested his hand on her shoulder and pulled her close.

"Rusl, even if you could talk to him," she began, "I don't think anything you say would get through to him. It's going to take a miracle to fix him."

"I suppose you're right, Uli." He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Looks like our Link has gotten himself into another hairy situation. He's got a knack for that!"

"Yes, but I know that the Princess can find a way to help him. She has always found a way to aid him when he needs it." Uli met my eye with a smile.

Midna shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She knew that Uli was referring to Link's dark days after the Mirror of Twilight was broken. His despondence was in part, her fault.

Uli seemed to sense Midna's change of mood.

"I know that you will play a part in helping him too, dear. Stay strong and don't lose faith." Midna looked up at Uli and, for the first time this day, smiled. It was a wobbly, weak smile, but it was still nice to see.

I mentally reached out and felt the Triforce pacing back and forth, it's owner growing impatient.

"It's time that we head back to the castle. The sun will set in a few hours and we have much to do."

Rusl let go of his wife and headed to open the door for us. Uli turned to fetch our coats.

"But I have one more important instruction for you two." Rusl and Uli both stopped in their tracks to listen.

"Please, please do not tell anybody of what we have spoken about. My people revere Link as the Hero of Light. He is somewhat of a celebrity outside of Ordon. If Hyrule knew that it's most beloved Hero was possessed by a mask, there might be widespread panic. People would try to find him and force the mask off his face. Some may believe that a demon has taken over his body, and they might do terrible things to free him, and only end up killing him in the process. I cannot guarantee that people would accept my story as you two have. Keep this our secret, for Link's safety."

Rusl sighed and resumed rubbing his eyes with his hand. He was completely stressed by this news. Uli, however, nodded in agreement. Her kind, tender face met not mine, but Midna's.

"I promise, Princess Zelda, that we will keep this to ourselves. I have one request as well." Here she walked over to us gave us quick hugs.

"Do not blame anybody for this," she said to us both, but I knew that this was mostly for Midna. "Nobody could have known that this would happen. Forgive and move on."

"Yes, Uli," I said. Midna murmured a quiet "alright" to her. Uli smiled and wished us farewell.

I knew that it was nobody's fault. Uli was right. How could anybody have foreseen this happening? Yet, Uli and I both suspected that blame would eventually be put upon somebody, and I had a hunch that Midna would blame this event entirely on me.

**The day that Midna returned **was a beautiful, crisp afternoon in the early spring. I had awoken at an unheard of hour, unable to go back to sleep. After that I felt restless all morning. I had a premonition that something would happen. The feeling could not be shaken, so before it was even noon, I saddled up my horse and rode past the city gates to Hyrule field. With no solid destination in mind, I turned my horse in the direction of Lake Hylia. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the entrance to the Lanayru Spring. Something had guided me there. I was meant to be there at that moment in time. I was excited to see what was in store for me.

I walked in to the cool cavern and sat down on the soft grass overlooking the crystal clear water. Everything was silent and still. I do not know how long I sat there, waiting for whatever it was to happen. After a very long time, my eyes grew heavy with exhaustion and I began to doze. Just after I had drifted off to sleep, my Triforce hand began to itch and burn. I stood up and looked around the Spring in every direction. The clear water was turning black and cloudy! The atmosphere was tense and electric.

My Triforce was steadily beating, knowing what was coming before I did. My eyes caught the sight of a figure materializing right in front of me. The black clouds of the water had crept up onto the shore and were slowly forming the tall shape of a woman.

I didn't even have to wait until she was completely materialized to know who it was. Midna had returned.

She was not dressed in the Royal garb she had worn the last time I saw her, but rather a simple gown, looking like an every day citizen. Her wild orange hair was flowing freely down her back, not longer tamed by her Royal crown or adornments. And she looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see her.

After a series of confused hellos and jumbled words that were meant to be cordial and welcoming, I was able ask her how she returned to Hyrule.

From the folds of her dress, she pulled out a strange looking stone. I inquired to how this helped her get back to this world of light.

She explained that when Zant cursed Link into staying a wolf, this stone lodged itself into his forehead, becoming the evil power that could only be separated from him by the Master Sword. It was an evil magic that was created by Ganondorf and Zant's combined powers. I then remembered feeling the curse running through him as he stood in my lonely tower as a sopping wet wolf with a dying Midna at his paws.

Midna went on to explain that she used this stone to her advantage, transforming Link into his wolf form whenever it was necessary for their journey. She had taken it with her when she returned to the Twilight Realm. As soon as she had taken her first step back into her own world, she regretted her choice to destroy the Mirror. She had spent an entire year looking for a way to bring herself back to Link. Near the end of her search, Midna had come across an old spell, one that originated from the first Twili banished to the Realm. It had the power to reunite two people, no matter what obstacles stood in the way. The only catch was that Midna needed one item that carried the essence of the person that she wished to reunite with. Midna had nothing that belonged to Link or carried his essence. She told me that she almost gave up, until she remembered that she had one thing that belonged to link.

The cursed stone that turned him into a wolf. It was made into a necklace that she wore around her neck at all times. Midna knew that it was worth trying, so she preformed the spell and prayed to the goddesses that she resented for the Magic to work.

And indeed, it worked. A few hours later, we were entering Ordon Village and meeting with a rather stunned Link. The reunion was bittersweet and the days that followed were full of hope and joy. It was a special time for them, and I was more than happy to see them reunited. The months went on and Midna continued to use her Magic to travel between the Twilight Realm and the world of light. Their story made me believe that nothing could tear them apart ever again.

Then today happened. Now I was riding my mare across Hyrule field with a monstrous man, who wasn't Link, marching beside me. A gloomy Midna was riding Epona behind us. She refused to have her back to the Fierce Deity. The entire way back to the castle was completely silent, as I guessed it would be.

The snow filled clouds from before had melted away and the brilliant colors of dusk illuminated the sky. Though it was beautiful, twilight always filed me with an unexplainable sadness. The white blanket of snow on the ground reflected the oranges and pinks of the sunset. Even the white garb of the Fierce Deity was glowing. I took in his stern face bathed in the glorious light, the beauty a stark contrast to his smoldering aura.

Just before the sun dipped below the horizon, we were entering my home: Hyrule Castle.

"**Princess, you have been gone **all day! We were beginning to worry about you!" My motherly, rotund maid was fussing over me, trying to pull off my cloak and push me to the warm kitchen hearth. I knew that she would be in the kitchen. If anybody needed to find her, she would most likely be sitting on a comfortable chair by the roaring kitchen fire.

"Moira, please! I need you to listen to me. I have very important instructions for you!"

Dear Moira had been my nurse when I was a young girl. The older woman was as sweet as honey and treated me as she pleased, regardless of my Royal status. She taught me how to read and write. Her bedtime tales of the Hero of Time helping my great grandmother Zelda had mesmerized me. When I had outgrown her as a nurse, I could not bear to see her leave, so I kept her as my personal handmaid. She happily obliged, not wanting to leave me either. Though I had numerous official advisors, no person could better advise me than Moira, and I took her on as my personal advisor. She was like family to me, and even though I was a grown adult and the Ruling Princess at that, she still treated me as though I were one of her own grandchildren. I would not have had it any other way.

"Now, now Princess. You've been out in the freezing weather all day, probably catching goddess knows what! Don't blame anybody but yourself if you catch a nasty cold." The laugh lines around her sparkly brown eyes creased as she playfully fought with me.

I kept my coat clutched tightly to my body as her arms tugged to pull it off. I could not help but laugh at her antics. It was nice to be around somebody who wasn't an angry giant that wanted to hurt me, or a sulking Twili that hated me.

"If I catch cold, I'll know just the person to nurse me back to perfect health, but I do need you listen to me!"

Moira ceased her tugging and she placed her hands on her ample hips. "Alright girl, what do you need for me to do?"

"First, I need you to send word to prepare the Lakeside Manor for use by tomorrow morning. I will be staying there for quite some time."

Moira widened her eyes and started wagging her finger at me. "You want to stay in the Lakeside Manor? You have not been there since you were just shy of your sixteenth birthday! I thought you had your reason for never going there again?"

"Yes, and my reason still stands, but something has happened and it would be best to stay away from the castle."

I thought about telling her the whole sad story and explaining to her that keeping this issue away from prying eyes would be safer. I longed to just lay everything on her shoulders like I normally did, but something told me not to. Not yet, at least. It was the fear that the Fierce Deity would be a danger to others, and in danger _from_ others, that kept tight a lid on my secret.

"Well dear," Moira began, "I have to tell you that the manor has already been prepared for company. It might even be ready for you now!"

This was strange. Normally, if nobility came to Castle Town, I would arrange for them to stay in the Lakeside Manor as my honored guest, but I could not think of a single soul that I had invited to stay there.

"Who exactly is staying there, Moira?"

"Just after you left this morning, a messenger came to the Castle and told us that Sir Taran of Termina was on his merry way. The messenger said that "his lord grace" would be arriving by nightfall. Can you believe that? Just inviting himself into your Castle, uninvited? _And_ coming here in all this weather? Anyways, I took it upon myself to send a crew of servants to open up the Manor, since I figured that's what your orders would be."

I leaned against a nearby wall. I felt dizzy. My fingers ran through my hair, messing up the smooth style that my servants worked so hard to tame.

I was to have a visitor, and a pompous, arrogant visitor at that! Sir Taran of Termina, Ambassador to Hyrule and Mayor of Clock Town. What a man he was! On an ordinary day he was a blustering, ambitious, handful, so I could not imagine trying to deal with him during the harrowing situation that I had just been thrown into.

"Are you alright, Princess? You look like your nerves have been worn raw. Can I get you a mug of hot tea?" Moira asked kindly. She patted my face to cheer me up.

"No thank you Moira. Did he say why he was coming? I really don't have the energy to see him this evening."

"Oh no, he didn't even say why he was coming, all I know is that he's going to be here soon!"

I groaned. This was just not my day. All I wanted to do was fall into a bed and sleep until things got better. Or just until Sir Taran left.

"When Sir Taran and his party arrive, please be so kind as to put them in rooms in the south wing. Right now, I'm going to send for a sleigh to take me to the Manor."

I turned to leave, not wanting to waste a moment. The Manor was half an hour's ride away, and the temperature fell quickly after dark.

"Just wait one moment!" called out Moira. She scurried after me and planted herself between me and the door.

"Now I don't know what sort of things are going through your head, and I can see that it won't do any good if I asked you to tell me. I'll try to help you as best as I can, and I'll be there to listen when you're ready to talk about it. You send the word, and I'll be at the manor as quick as I can."

"Thank you, Moira. You are kind." I bent down to give her a hug, wanting to cry and laugh and go to sleep all at once. The emotional turmoil of the day was weighing heavily on my heart.

She hugged me back, then shooed me out of the kitchen. I walked out and the door closed behind me.

Midna appeared from the shadows. She had come inside with me, not wanting to stay by herself in the stables with the Fierce Deity. I had invited her to come into the kitchen while I talked with Moira, but she said that she wasn't in the mood to see other people. I could understand that.

We wound through the dim hallways of the castle, making our way back to the stables. I would order a stable hand to ready a sleigh as fast as possible, and then we would be on our final journey for the day.

"Zelda, I'm leaving. I'm going home."

"What? I'm surprised, Midna. Don't you want to stay?"

Midna glared at me out of the corner of her eyes. "Of course I want to stay," she said, lacing in every ounce of sarcasm that she could. She was starting to sound like the old Midna, the sassy Imp Midna that visited me in my tower prison during the Twilight Occupation. "I don't want to go. It kills me to know that I have to leave while Link is—" Midna's voice broke and she struggled to hold back her emotion.

"Midna…" I whispered as I reached out my hand to console her. She glared at me and walked away from my hand.

"I have no choice. I can't abandon my duties just yet. I am the ruler of a kingdom and I need to go back to the Twilight Realm and make a few arrangements so that I can stay here for as long as it takes to fix this mess you've gotten everybody in. Believe me, I will be back as soon as I can—tomorrow morning for sure!"

My heart plummeted to my knees. So she did blame it on me.

"Midna, it is not my fault, or yours, or anybody's. Like Uli said, nobody could have guessed that this would happen. It's just a—"

"I don't care what she said! She wasn't there!"

Midna stopped walking and she stood there in the middle of the hallway, shaking from head to toe. She threw her arm in the air and pointed her finger at me. She started to yell so forcefully that I feared she would wake up the entire castle.

"I didn't want to go into that stupid forest, but no! You just had to! You just had to go exploring so that you could get away from your boring, pathetic life as ruler of this boring, pathetic country! Well Zelda, I hope that you're happy, because you definitely made things a little more interesting for yourself! I don't care if you think I'm disrespecting you as a Princess OR as a friend!"

Her volume lowered, but her voice took on a desperate, dangerous edge.

"I have lost the one thing that I love most in the world. I spent an entire year looking for a way to get back to him, and I only found him to lose him again and it's all because of you!"

I said nothing. My chest was tight and I could hardly breath. What could I have said? She was so justified in her anger, how could I even argue? Midna was waiting for me to say something, to defend myself and tear her down. But I could not say a single thing, or I would burst into tears like a little girl. So, we stood in the dark hallway, neither one of us speaking.

Enough was enough and Midna could not stand to be around me any longer. She pushed past me and disappeared down the dark hallway, her tall form disappearing into the shadows and leaving behind a bitter taste in the air.

**I felt sorry for the **poor stable boy that had been dragged from dinner in his warm, cozy quarters, and out into the cold night to take his surly Princess and a silent, hulking giant to the Manor. The three of us rode in silence. Every so often, the stable boy would nervously glance back at the Fierce Deity and urge the horses to go a little faster.

I sat opposite of my sullen companion, bundled up in warm furs. He wore nothing to protect himself from the cold. The warm glow of a hanging lantern bathed yellow light onto his face. The light swung back and forth, casting dancing shadows on us both.

I took this opportunity to study him more closely. No, I could not deny that I was very curious and glad of an excuse to stare at him without Midna's judging eyes watching my every move.

Nor could I deny that he was handsome, in a wild sort of way. I decided that he did not look like Link as much as he did before. The mask had begun hiding Link's features and the Fierce Deity's own face was now taking over. He had a long, narrow face and an elegant, aquiline nose. His high cheekbones complimented his sharp jaw line. The splashes of red and blue were distracting and I wished that I could see him without them there. I looked at his eyes and wondered what color they should be. Blue like mine? A vivid green perhaps, or even a soft brown?

"Do you like what you see, Princess?" Came a sarcastic voice out of the cold.

My heart stopped as I realized that Fierce Deity had caught me staring a little too long. I saw that he was smirking at me. The stable boy looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes wide and fearful at the man's deep voice.

I did not respond to him, but I pulled the furs more tightly over my body and turned away from them both.

I decided that none of those eye colors would suit him.

**Lakeside Manor was a place **that I had hoped to never see again, yet here I was, voluntarily living here for the foreseeable future.

Right on the shore of Lake Hylia, on a very secluded, beautiful spot sat a Manor that belonged to the Royal Family. It was the house that my mother had grown up in, and her father had given it to my father as a wedding gift. As a girl, I spent many warm summer days splashing in the cool waters of Lake Hylia, running through the forest like a wild child, and exploring the many rooms while trying to hide from Moira's daily school lessons. It had been my absolute favorite place growing up. The Manor was an escape from daily life. It was my adventure grounds, my fantasy world, and my peaceful heaven.

At least, it was until my sixteenth birthday. After _that_ year, the manor became a tomb of miserable memories and I never wanted to see it for as long as I lived.

I was lying down on a bed, in a cozy room that I had claimed as mine when I was young. The memories of the past haunted every corner of my thoughts. I turned over on the mattress and held my stomach. It made me ill to even be here.

Midna's parting words also swirled around in my head. I was to be blamed for everything, it seemed. The Fierce Deity detested me for whatever it was that my great grandmother did to offend him, and Midna placed all fault for what happened today on me.

It would not do well to dwell on the past, I thought wearily to myself. I needed to concentrate on the present. Pushing aside all my depressing thoughts, I focused all my energy on locating Link's Triforce. I had put the Fierce Deity in a room close to mine so that I could use the connection to keep a watch on him.

After Midna left, the tension that he felt had eased tremendously. He still did not say much, but his aggressive nature had settled down. After the embarrassing incident on the ride to the Manor, in which the driver had continued to look back at the Fierce Deity with terror and confusion, I offered him dinner. I hoped that maybe then he would talk to me, without him and Midna antagonizing each other, but he gruffly declined my offer and asked to be sent to his room.

So I sent him away, and I stormed off to my own room.

Now as I connected with the Triforce, I felt him pacing back and forth like a caged animal. That was a feeling that I could empathize with. I knew all too well what it felt like to be trapped, never going anywhere, always looking out, but never moving forward. All my days of being a prisoner in my own castle made me feel caged too. It was something we had in common. Regardless of everything that had happened today, I wanted to help him. I cannot answer why I had this need to care for him, it was just there and I could not close my eyes to it.

"Please tell me who you are," I whispered aloud in the dark room, knowing that the words were only heard by me.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt the Triforce leave the room and go outside. He was escaping!

I sat up in bed, trying not to panic. How foolish was I to have given him a room with a balcony? I threw my covers back and I stumbled out of bed. A pair of boots sat next to the door and I hastily shoved them onto my feet. The Triforce was moving down the lawn, nearing the waters of the lake's shore. I ran to my own balcony doors and threw them open. The cold hit me like a thousand knives and I realized that I had forgotten my jacket. I gasped and my body shivered violently. Ignoring the cold, I searched for any sign of the Fierce Deity walking down to the lake.

I felt the Triforce stop moving, and I caught sight of him standing still, looking back at my balcony as if he were expecting me.

A full moon gracefully shone down on the white giant standing on the prefect, untarnished snow. Long shadows from the trees stretched across the ground, reaching all the way to the Manor. The water of the lake was rippling, catching the light of the moon and making the surface sparkle like diamonds. Everything was peaceful and still. Even the icy breath coming from the man's mouth was somehow beautiful.

I met the pale eyes of the Fierce Deity, and a sadness that was not mine filled my heart. He frowned and then turned away from me, his face looking up to meet the moon. It was a pensive moment. A great longing rose up in me, and I had the urge to gaze up at the moon as well. The silver orb that ruled the night had never seemed more mysterious and stunning. It was so bright that only a few stars could compete with the heavenly body's light. As I looked up at the moon with the Fierce Deity, I felt a tiny surge of bliss and the feeling of being home.

I was feeling his emotions again, and this time it was not so frightening. He was sharing something with me, though I could not fully decipher what he was trying to share. I did not mind so much that I didn't grasp what he was saying, but instead I let myself get lost in his message. I tore my eyes from the moon and looked down at my strange companion. He in turn looked up at me. Blue eyes met white eyes and an understanding was formed. No words were spoken. Only a fleeting moment of unity had passed between us, and I felt that I was no longer considered an enemy.

He was letting me know him.

* * *

Back when I originally wrote this, I decided to break the first part of the story into all these little chapters when they really could have been two or three big, eventful chapters. Even so, I didn't change it because I wanted to keep it as close to the original as possible. I promise that the action will pick up after this chapter though :) Thanks for reading!


	6. Sojourners

**Here is the next installment of "Healing the Moon." This is the first long chapter in the story and the action definitely picks up a little more. Please enjoy and happy reading :) **

* * *

**I had no desire **to get out of bed the next morning. Though the early dawn sun was glowing through the big bay windows and softly urged me to rise and face the day, I snuggled deeper into my warm covers. My eyes were itching from lack of sleep. I had stayed out a long time, watching the moon with the Fierce Deity. When I finally went to bed, my dreams were bizarre. The broken scenes that had flashed in front of my eyes right before Link put on the mask were a part of my dream. I knew that those were my great grandmother Zelda's memories, but I also kept seeing visions of the moon. Sometimes the moon was tranquil and lovely, like it had been last night. Other times the moon wore a terrible, gruesome face and it was about to come crashing down on the earth. Right as it was falling from the heavens, I saw the Fierce Deity, as tall as the sky, hold that moon in his hands and heal the moon of its ghastly face. There was some significance in my dreams of the moon. The moon was important, but why?

A quiet tapping at my door broke the silence, and then came the sound of paper being slid along the floor. I ran my fingers through my hair and hoisted myself off the mattress. My feet meet the cold, wooden panels of the floor.

Sure enough, there was a letter sitting right in front of my door. I stretched out my stiff arms before bending down to pick up the paper. The flourishing handwriting that spelled out my name was foreign to me. A little curious, I ripped open the envelope, breaking the simple wax seal.

Dear Nayru, I should have known that it was from him! Who else would have the gall to send me a letter so early in the morning?

"_Dearest Princess Zelda,_

_I know that it must seem terribly forward of me to travel to your home so informally and unannounced, but there is a rather important subject that is pressing on my heart that I wish to speak with you about in a timely and personal manner._

_Would you be so kind as to make an afternoon audience with me? Right around noon would be best. I do not want to keep this discussion waiting! When I am able to fully explain to you what is troubling me so, then I am sure you will understand my reason for haste. _

_The rooms that you have given us to use are very nice and well furnished for important visitors such as myself, but they are a bit small and drafty. The view of the stables is also a tad bit nauseating. You wouldn't like waking up to the sight of a stable boy mucking out the stalls would you? Would it be too much trouble to ask you, dear Princess, if you would be able to move us to a different section of the castle? Thank you! I am very much looking forward to seeing you at noon._

_Your Honored Guest,_

_His Lord Grace, Sir E. Taran, Mayor of Clock Town, Ambassador of Termina"_

I wanted to rip the letter to shreds. How dare he invite me to an audience in my own home! And who did this "important visitor like himself" think he was, demanding that I move him to a bigger room with a better view?

"How about I just send you back to your own Castle, you haughty little man! " I hissed as I searched for shawl to wrap around my nightgown. "I can move you to the servant's quarters if I like!" I walked to a tall, oak wardrobe and pulled out a navy blue shawl.

If he wanted to meet me so badly, then he had better be ready as soon as I came into my castle and gave him an audience on my terms! I was going to march down to the old Study that once belonged to my grandfather and write my own letter to this Sir Taran and warn him that I was on my way _now_! I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and stomped to the door. My feet were still bare, so hopefully none of the few servants that were here would be walking around the Manor this early. I hated for people to see my bare feet. It was so unladylike.

I opened the door to the hallway and nearly screamed with fright! The Fierce Deity was standing right outside my room, filling up the entire doorframe. He was fully dressed, and fully armed. He raised his red eyebrow and looked me up and down. Self-conscious, I pulled the shawl tighter over my chest.

My mind was so absorbed with being irritated at Taran's letter, that I had completely ignored my connection with the Triforce. I had no idea that the Fierce Deity was skulking around outside of my room.

"You're finally up," he stated, the smooth richness of his voice making my stomach drop. He sauntered into my room and towered over me, though this time he was not trying to be threatening. I was intimidated nonetheless. My cheeks tingled as I felt how closely he was standing with me, in my room.

Alone.

He was looking down at me and I felt like his blank eyes were boring into my soul. I had a sudden thought of him leaning over and giving me a kiss. I pushed that vision out of my head, but my heart skipped a beat as the vision faded.

As if he knew what I was thinking, the man took a tiny step forward. He left little room between us. I tilted my head to the side as his face slowly grew closer to mine.

Only a thin wall of air was between us now. All I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears and my mind was blurry. I had no control over what was happening. I should have been stopping it.

But I didn't want to.

His had reached out and I expected him to graze his fingers over my cheeks. Instead I was snapped back to reality as he snatched Taran's letter right out my hands, laughing as he broke his gaze from mine.

I wanted to slam the door in his face and cry on my bed for days. How could I have thought that he was going to kiss me? The Fierce Deity was nothing more than a teasing brute. Yet, what really made me want to crawl under my bed and never emerge was the fact that I had been fully willing to let him kiss me…

"What's this?" he asked, waving the paper in the air. The Fierce Deity looked down at the writing for a few seconds, then his face grew confused and I felt his anger flare up.

"What IS this? Read it to me!" he ordered, shoving the letter back in my face. The paper crumpled in my hands as I took it back from him.

"Don't tell me that you cannot read!"

"I CAN read, just not in this barbaric language!"

"My language is not barbaric! That offends me," I retorted hotly, still fuming at his little trick. "I will certainly not read this to you either. It is no concern of yours."

I went to move past him, but he blocked my way with his massive body. His arms crossed and he looked down at me sternly. I was about to enter a losing battle. He would not budge until I read him the letter.

Feeling quite perturbed, I smoothed out the now wrinkly paper and started to read aloud the message that Taran had written me.

I did not even finish reading before the Fierce Deity interrupted me. "Who is this fool?" he asked. "If you actually go and have that audience with him, then you're a fool as well."

"How dare you call me a fool! It is my job as Princess to meet with noblemen who call upon my council. Yes it is true that he did it in a very untoward way, but it is important nonetheless. My main duty is to serve others before myself."

The Fierce Deity shrugged his shoulders. "Fine," he said, backing away from the door, unblocking my way out. "You aren't a fool. But your main priority now is to serve ME, and help ME find a way to break MY curse! What happened to that?"

Though I was now allowed to leave my own room, I wanted to stay and finish this increasingly tiresome discussion. What happened to the union that we shared last night when he was trying to connect with me as we looked up at the moon? I guess that I had expected him to be a little nicer today. But no! Today he was an insulting, teasing, demanding beast!

"Nothing happened to the deal we made, it's just that I am the sole ruler of an entire country! Things are going to come up that will get in the way of our plans. Believe me," I argued as I finally started walking out of my room. "I haven't forgotten about dealing with you."

"You're quite the sassy one today." He narrowed his white eyes at me as though he was cross with me, but I knew that he wasn't. "Secretly amused" was a better way to describe what he was feeling. I wasn't sure how to take that.

"Well I'm glad that you haven't forgotten poor Fierce Deity amidst all your busy lunch plans and Princess duties."

Deciding to ignore that comment, I started walking down the hallway to the Study. I could hear the heavy footsteps of the Fierce Deity following me as I went.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to have a morning tea while all the servants braid your hair? Is that part of your Princess duties, or would that be breaking into your sewing and knitting time?" He joked. I could detect no malicious intent in his words. He was just playing with me. Were his emotions ever consistent?

"Will you stop it?" I asked as I stopped walking and turned around. My lips were struggling to hold back a silly smile. "And NO, I am not going to braid my hair, and I have no idea how to sew or knit!" The Fierce Deity pretended to act shocked. An uncontrollable urge to laugh hit me like a wave. Where was this even coming from?

"What I am about to do though, is send word to Taran that I'm leaving for the Castle now. He will meet me on my terms."

"That sounds fine." He said. "When shall we ready the sleigh?"

"No, not _we_. I will be the only one going to the Castle."

The Fierce Deity shook his head. "No, I believe that I will come as well."

I was taken aback. Clearly he did not care that he was disobeying the orders of a monarch.

"You are supposed to follow my orders. I have full authority over you when you are in my kingdom! You are staying away from the Castle. It is for your own good!"

"For my own good?!" He laughed. "I only follow orders if I feel like they are 'for my own good' as you put it. I did not decide to come with you to your castle because you told me to. I came because I thought it would be better than wandering around and trying to find answers on my own. Did you really think that I would just stay put and do as I was told. No. I always follow my _own_ authority, which is above and beyond any authority you think that you have."

**So, I let him come with me. **Or rather, he decided with his _own_ authority that he was going to accompany me on my visit to the Castle.

We were riding together on the sleigh, not long after I sent a messenger to deliver my letter to Taran. I hoped that he was scrambling around, trying to get prepared for his oh so important meeting with me.

The crisp morning air chilled my cheeks as the horses carrying our sleigh pranced over the snow. Clear blue skies peeped through the tree branches. The Fierce Deity was sitting across from me. I knew that he was looking at me, but I tried my hardest to avoid the sight of him.

Our encounter this morning had left me confused and flustered. He was up, and then he was down. He went from being threatening to angry to sad to quiet to mysterious to mean, only to start over again in a vicious cycle! It was exhausting, trying to keep up with his constant mood swings. And he always managed to make my own emotions get out of sorts. I still had not fully recovered from when I thought he was going to kiss me.

I felt my stomach flutter as I remembered him leaning closer and closer to my face. As much as it horrified me, I could not keep that moment from running through my head like a rabid dog in a sheep pen.

My head fell into my hands and I tried to erase my mind of the unwanted memory.

"Do you have a library?"

I peeked through my fingers, not really knowing if I had just imagined his voice asking me about a library, or not.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, do you have a library? In your castle, is there a place where you keep your books and maps and such forth?"

Why would he need my library?

"Well, of course I have a library."

"I want to use it."

"Alright."

That was the end of that conversation. The tall turrets and spires of Hyrule Castle soon dominated the sky as we approached the gates to the stables. The sleigh stopped in the stable yard and I hopped out of it as quickly as I could. The Fierce Deity followed suit.

"Come with me," I said, not even giving the stable hand a chance to ask me when I would need the sleigh again. I didn't want to linger. The library was halfway across the Castle, and I wanted to get the Fierce Deity there quickly, and without drawing the attention of too many curious servants.

I ran to the farthest door on the left. It lead to the kitchen, and from the kitchen we would follow a few winding hallways, go up a flight of servant's stairs, go through the armory room, and pass through the portrait hallway, and then follow yet another narrow hallway, finally reaching the back entrance to the library. It was the perfect route. Now if only Moira wasn't sitting at her usual post by the kitchen fire, then we could get away with the Fierce Deity being completely unseen.

I opened the creaky wooden door as quietly as I could. Moira was sitting on her chair by the fire, but her head was sagging onto her chest and her mouth was slightly open. Good, she was asleep!

Motioning for the Fierce Deity to follow me, I tiptoed into the kitchen. He clamored into the room, every clang of his armor and pound of his boots on the floor seeming extraordinarily loud. Frantically, I made a sign for him to shush! He stopped in his tracks and sighed the quietest of sighs.

After the treacherous trek across the kitchen, we left a still sleeping Moira behind and we followed the path of the hallway to the library.

"Its all very fun, having you sneak me in like some criminal," he said sarcastically.

"To Hyrule's citizens, you might be 'some criminal.' Nothing like you has ever crossed their path before. You would scare them to pieces. Besides, if they found out that you possessed their Hero, you might be treated worse than the most hated vagrant in the land."

I could feel him really mulling over my last statement. I hurried my steps. The library was so far away! We flew up the flight of rickety servant's stairs to the next room we had to cross. The armory room had no windows, and it was never lit unless we had visitors, so the place was completely black. I painfully stumbled into more than one sharp, hard object in the room. I felt along the walls, looking for the handle of the door that would lead us into the portrait hallway.

When I had grasped the handle and opened the door, light flooded into the room.

The portrait hallway was one of the most serene places in the castle. Tall, wide windows lined the left wall, letting golden rays illuminate the solemn oil paintings of my ancestors on the opposite side. It was a quiet corridor where one could almost hear the voices of the people whispering to you from their frames. I slowed my hurried feet and I gazed upon the faces of my mother and father. They were the newest paintings, having been added to the collection only a mere six years ago…

Out of respect, I bowed my head to their portraits as I walked by them. I imagined them telling me that they loved me, and that they missed me terribly. A lump grew in my throat and I tore my eyes from their flat, lifelessly painted eyes.

I passed a few more portraits, wanting to put distance between my parents' paintings. The Fierce Deity, however, had stopped following me. His emotions became tense and unreadable.

"What is it?" I whispered, not wanting to disrupt the silence too much.

The Fierce Deity said nothing, but pointed to a painting of a woman that was not too far away from my parents.

My great grandmother Zelda's eyes stared back down at us. Unlike the artist who had painted the flat faces of my mother and father, this genius had captured dimension and life in Zelda's portrait. Her face, though thin, was youthful and fair. Her perfect lips held the hint of a smile. Her chin was pointed, like mine. Delicate eyebrows framed ocean blue eyes that were kind and wise. Long blonde hair, much lighter than my own, flowed down her back. I used to spend hours studying her picture, dreaming of one day being as exquisite and beloved a Princess as she was.

Her portrait seemed to have entranced the Fierce Deity.

"It's her," breathed. "She's the one who ruined everything…"

I looked up at her kind face and I could not imagine her being the cause of all his misery.

"Tell me what she did," I asked. He tore his sight from the painting and looked to be in deep thought.

"I promise that I will tell you. I would just like to get to the library first."

"You promise? I thought that it was not wise to ever trust you?"

He smirked. "It is wise to never trust me. But I want you to know what happened that day in the forest."

Before I could say a word, the Fierce Deity turned on his heel and walked as fast as he could to the door leading out of the hallway.

I ran after him, not wanting to be left behind. There was something ominous that I felt as I looked at Zelda's portrait one last time. She was a woman that I thought to have known so well. Her portrait's face always hinted at kindness and a genial nature. I always felt a closeness with her, but now, behind her sparkling eyes I thought that I saw hints of secrets that she had never meant to share with a soul.

The Fierce Deity was waiting for me outside of the door. Without a word, I led him straight to the library. This back entrance opened up to a sitting area in the corner of the spacious, high ceilinged room. Floor to ceiling shelves full of books lined every wall. Bookcases were placed neatly in sections on the first floor. I spindly staircase wound up to the second floor where a large, circular window gave perfect reading light to the room.

"You may have this entire place to yourself. The Library stays locked unless it has been requested to be used."

The Fierce Deity, a little in awe, ran his fingers over a set of old tomes on the nearest shelf.

"Where are your history books? And your maps?"

"Those are somewhere on the second floor, I believe. If you need to search, there is a directory on the table over there." I pointed to a polished wooden table that was sitting between two plush chairs.

He walked over to the table and began to thumb through the directory, searching for his desired books.

I was struck by his sudden interest in Hyrule's history and topography. I had to venture one question before I left.

"What is it that you are looking for?"

He did not look up from his search, but only mumbled "don't you have somewhere to be?"

**I could not even sit down. **I was standing behind one of my couches, picking at the silk fabric. The sound of my foot tapping against the marble floor echoed inside the small, empty sitting room. I could not keep still.

Sir Taran was on his way to meet me here in the sitting room this very moment. In the past, I always met with him in a group of people; on the council or during meetings and things like that. He served as our Ambassador from Termina, so I thought it diplomatic to include him in important sessions. Nobody liked him being there, though, He acted like he was sovereign lord over all the earth, interjecting his ideas where he had no business being.

I had never met with him one on one before, and I anticipated even worse than typical behavior from him. Truth be told, this upcoming meeting was not what was making me feel so nervous. Leaving the Fierce Deity alone and unsupervised made me far more anxious than seeing Sir Taran. The Ambassador was a man that I _could_ handle without getting so flustered.

The sound of a loud voice approaching drifted through the closed door. Sir Taran was here.

I quickly hopped around to the front of the couch and sat down in it, as to give the appearance of being relaxed and poised when Taran walked in.

The door swung open and Sir Taran boldly strode into the room. In his wake was a very aggravated looking servant and a boy, much younger than the two men he was with.

"Ah, dearest Princess Zelda," cooed Taran as he walked towards me. No, I could not deny that he _was_ a handsome man. I guessed that he was in his early forties. Prematurely dark silver hair sat atop his head. Thin wrinkles outlined his deep set brown eyes. A perfectly trimmed silver beard outlined his slim face. He was tall and lanky, with wide shoulders. The man exuded elegance, but it was only surface level. Taran was cunning and shrewd, and his "kindness" was always laced with passive aggression. Anybody could have seen that behind the elegant, successful Mayor was a typical snob that only wanted to rise to power.

He held out his hands and bowed down in front of me. I rose and graciously accepted his hand. With a beaming smile, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed the bare skin of my knuckles. Why didn't I have the foresight to wear my gloves today?

"Sir Taran, thank you for arriving in this timely manner. I am so glad that you could make an earlier audience with me." I said in a slightly clipped voice.

Taran continued to beam at me, still holding my hand in his. "Of course, Princess. I am more than happy to oblige. You of course, are the ruler of this roost!"

Having just been compared to a farm animal, I politely laughed. "I see that you have brought your son with you."

I motioned over to the teenaged boy still awkwardly standing by the servant, looking like he didn't know why he was even there at all. His father had not even acknowledged him. For a second, I felt sad for the boy. I took a step past Taran, who reluctantly let go of my hand, and I offered a curtsy to the boy. His nervousness faded and he looked relieved at having been greeted and not ignored any longer.

"Oh yes," came Taran's voice from behind me. He sounded very annoyed. "I have brought my son along with me," he said as if his son were just an afterthought.

The boy's sharp facial features matched those of his father, echoing what Taran may have looked like as a young man. His eyes were green like a cat's, and his hair was black. I wondered if his eyes and hair color may have come from a long deceased mother. I knew Taran to be a bachelor.

"I have not met you before. What is your name?" I asked him, deciding not to pay attention to his father for the moment.

The boy's lips tightened together and he seemed unsure about answering me. I smiled at him, hoping to encourage him to be less shy.

His father did not even give him a chance. "His name is Kael, and he is terribly shy. I do not even know how I had him for a son."

Ashamed, Kael looked down at his feet.

No, I do not know how such a brazen man could have a sweet son like this either. I turned away from the boy named Kael and walked down to a large, winged armchair. I wanted to get this afternoon over with.

"Sir, please sit down. Let us talk."

Taran happily obliged. He walked to the couch, opposite of me and sat down. Kael shuffled over to another small couch, well away from his father, and took a seat.

"Right you are. Now let's get down to the reason why I've asked you here."

I dismissed the servant, and asked him to close the door as he went out. The servant wasted no time in leaving. He bowed respectfully to me, but cut a quick glare at Taran. It seemed as though my guest had offended my staff in some way.

Once we were alone, it was time to berate him a tiny bit.

"Yes, Sir Taran. I would love to know what was so important that you traveled through the first snow of the year to come visit me in my castle. Uninvited. Your timing is also impeccable. I seem to keep having unsolicited complications in my life."

The man balked and his composure was slightly ruffled.

"Well, your highness I apologize if you think I just intruded! I believe that my matter is of such urgency, I cannot not wait for an invitation or let a few snowflakes stop me." He straightened the collar of his jacket and puffed out his chest. "In any case, I wanted to meet you in private, without all those councilmen or advisors. I would like for this little encounter to be…off the record, so to speak."

"Then say your piece, for I am very curious."

Taran laced his fingers together and brought his hands to rest on his knees.

"Well, as you know, Termina and Hyrule have been involved in diplomatic relations for a little over a century. It was your great grandmother, who as a child told her father, the King, that there was a new country beyond the boundaries of a certain forest that your people had feared for thousands of years. I am told that she knew of Termina from a boy that had been to our land. This boy was a Hero in your land. He and your great grandmother traveled through time to stop somebody called Ganondorf. Just a year or so after the Moon Disaster, your father, along with Princess Zelda and the 'Hero of Time' went on a crusade to this new land to make peace and form an alliance, and the rest, as you know, is history!"

Thank you, Taran, for giving me a synopsis of historical events on my own kingdom. But what of this "Moon Disaster?" That was something I had heard of several times before. I did know a small amount Termanian history, and the Moon Disaster was a legend of a cataclysmic event that happened a century ago. It was speculated that the legend was based off an actual event, but there was no solid documentation proving this theory.

"That is very true, Sir Taran, but what is your purpose in refreshing my knowledge on Hylian history?"

"As you already know, relations between the two countries began shortly after the King visited Termina, and since then our dealings with one another have been beneficial. I believe that Termina and Hyrule making a connection was a very good thing."

Termina. I had only been there a handful of times, and each visit was more unsettling than the last. Everything about it was so similar to Hyrule; the people, the Zora, the Gorons, and the overall terrain. Yet something about it was not normal. There was an underlying eeriness, something unusual within in the atmosphere that set me on edge. A dark feeling was cast over the land, a darkness that Hyrule did not have in common. Termina was a spooky place. I always had a conviction that Termina and Hyrule were never meant to actually meet.

The forest that separated the two countries was also in of itself a strange place. I heard tales and read historical accounts on that particular forest. People always believed it to be haunted, or cursed by the goddesses. For centuries, no one ever dared to venture more than a few hundred yards past the border of ancient trees. No one until the Hero of Time escorted Zelda and her father through the forest to Termina. When I personally entered the forest, I understood why it was so feared. That place was definitely not normal. The passage of time did not seem to matter. All things seemed to freeze. One felt lost and disoriented in a matter of minutes. Few people ever made the journey through the woods to Termina, only diplomats and a few brave immigrants who sought a better fortune in either country. Those woods felt more like a world between the words, like a passageway or portal between Termina and Hyrule rather than a naturally growing forest.

I chose not to express my dislike of Termina to Taran. He would not have let me had a chance to speak anyways. Yet to my surprise, he voiced my own thoughts perfectly.

"Now, Princess Zelda, I know that you, as well as many others have your misgivings about Termina. I do not pretend to think that it is a popular place for Hylains to visit. However, do not cast off this connection between our countries."

Taran stroked his chin in an attempt to look thoughtful. I knew though that he had this speech memorized word for word. He always sounded so practiced and fake. My dislike for this man grew.

"My heritage is very different from the average Termanian. I come from an ancient, very rare race of people called the Ikana. My ancestors once ruled all the regions of Termina. The Ikana were also deeply imbedded in Magic, before the kingdom's downfall of course. You might ask yourself, what does this have to do with anything, but I will tell you, Princess, that as my position of Mayor of Clock Town I wish to use this to my advantage."

"And to what advantage, Sir Taran? Do you wish to resurrect this race you call Ikana?"

"Not entirely, though I would like to rebuild the culture. No, my goals are far superior than that." Taran leaned forward in his seat and his eyes grew wide with excitement. "I wish to unite Termina once more, and serve as their King."

I sat there, not knowing what to say. Taran's eager face fell as he waited for me to speak. This was ambitious, even for him.

"Well. What do you think?" Taran asked when he had waited long enough for me to answer.

"What do I think?" I started off slowly. "I think that is a very lofty goal. Aren't Termina's kingdoms already governed by their own monarchies though?"

Taran looked put off by my doubtful attitude.

"Yes, the Zora and the Gorons and the like have their own kingdoms I suppose, but aren't all races in Hyrule under your rule?"

"No, not exactly—" I started to say, but Taran rudely cut me off.

"Things in Termina are different than Hyrule. I believe that Termina would benefit from a ruling family, such as Hyrule has benefited from your family, Princess. There is too much discord, to much distance in my country. I want there to be…unity and order. I can offer that as a King. I have already made announcements of my intentions all over Termina."

I crossed my arms and stared him down. This conversation was pointless. Had he really traveled all the way from Termina to just sit here and brag about all the things he wished to accomplish? If he did not get to the point in five minutes, I would send him back through that forest and straight to Clock Town.

Taran seemed to notice my growing aggravation. He stood up and walked over to the chair next to mine and sat down.

"All that I want is for Termina to be like Hyrule." He said, his voice taking on a sweet softness that sounded utterly fake. It made me feel like he was trying to console an angry daughter.

"I want Termina to be like Hyrule, because I feel that if the two countries were more alike, then we could be more united. My kingdom and yours, working together as allies. Would that not be brilliant?"

"I guess I don't see how you making it into a kingdom would make it any different than it is now."

Taran smiled and scooted his chair much closer to mine.

"What if it was more than just an alliance that we shared? What if Termina and Hyrule united into one, bonded nation?"

I flew to my feet. This made me nervous and angry. Was he trying to take my Kingdom? "What are you asking, Taran!"

Kael, whom I had forgotten was even there, shrunk back into the cushions of the couch, trying to make himself invisible. Taran's oily smile widened and he looked pleased to see me react so strongly. He unfolded his gangly legs and rose to his fullest height. Though not as tall as the Fierce Deity, he still towered over me.

"When I bring Termina under my rule, I will have a kingdom. I will be a King, which means…"

He reached over and grabbed my hand. I felt compelled to rip it away from him.

"Princess, dear Zelda. Together you and I can rule the bonded countries of Termina and Hyrule. All the Hylians and Zora and Gorons can be united under us. We can all live as one nation. It can be done. We are not so different from each other."

"You and I, separately rule our countries as one?"

"No," he whispered. I realized how closely he had drifted towards me. Kael picked up a small pillow and smothered his head under it. Taran squeezed my hand, almost painfully. I looked him in the eyes and I suddenly wanted to run away. Taran fell to one knee, still holding my hand.

"We can rule as one family. A new monarchy will be formed. Our children can rule after we are gone. Unite with me, and we can serve Hyrule and Termina as King and Queen. Husband and wife."

I was completely stunned. The room fell into a loaded silence. My mouth would not work. What had just happened to me?

Tension filled the air and my Triforce hand suddenly began to throb more painfully than I had ever felt before. I yanked my hand out of Taran's and I let out a helpless cry of pain.

"Princess? Are you alright?" asked Taran.

Unadulterated fury mingled with helpless panic filled every part of my being. I was not even listening to Taran any longer. I was not even wholly myself. I was now listening to the Fierce Deity's emotions. I became possessed by his anger, feeling his emotions so powerfully that it brought me physical pain to my Triforce. I could feel his piece thrashing around, throwing things and destroying everything in its path. I closed my eyes and tried to break the connection to stop the pain. Yet even as I did break the connection, his emotions still raged through me. A sweat broke out on my forehead. Something was terribly wrong.

Then all three of us, Kael, Taran, and myself, all cringed as a roar of pure rage reverberated through the castle.

**I could only imagine **what the servants were thinking as they saw their Princess running through the hallways with her skirts hitched up, going towards the awful noise and not away from it. I had no time to go the back way to the library; plus, my secret was about to be out in the open, so what did it matter if people saw me. I had to get to the library as quickly as I could.

A group of guards was standing around the entrance to the library. Two or so men were trying to ram down the doors. Every time they struck the door though, there was no give in the wood. It was being held shut by magic. I ordered the guards to leave the corridor. They all looked me as if I had lost my senses.

"Leave!" I ordered. If the Fierce Deity was using magic now, there was no way that they could win this fight. Reluctantly, they all left, wishing me luck as if I were some young soldier going into battle for the first time and they did not expect him to return.

I took in a deep breath and summoned a spell to break open the doors. The magic barring my entrance was strong, though I felt that this simple spell was only a shadow of his true power.

The doors gave way to my magic and I ran inside the library. I heard the doors slam shut behind me. Before I could even blink, I was thrown halfway across the room by an invisible force.

I landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. From my position I saw the entire room in utter disarray. Hundreds of books had been flung to the floor, their pages lying scattered all around. Shelves had been ripped from the walls. Chairs and tables torn apart were in pieces all over the room. The iron railing of the staircase was bent. A pair of giant brown boots suddenly blocked my view. I looked above me and saw the Fierce Deity's snarling face before me. He looked demonic.

His big hands grabbed my arms and he hoisted me to my feet. His grip grew tight and he began shaking me.

"WHERE IS ARKHAOS? WHERE IS THE LAND OF ARKHAOS?"

"I don't know of a place called Arkhaos! What are you talking about?!"

This made him even more furious, if that was possible. He squeezed my arms even tighter, making me whimper from pain.

"ARKHAOS! THE EMPIRE OF MIGHT? WHY HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF IT? WHY IS IT NOT ON YOUR MAPS OR IN YOUR HISTORY BOOKS?" Fierce Deity let go of my arms and shoved me to the floor once more. "WHAT HORRIBLE LAND AM I IN?"

He grabbed a nearby, still intact chair and smashed it against the floor. The broken splinters of wood flew past me. Fierce Deity pulled at his hair and screamed out his rage to the ceiling.

"YOU TERRIBLE GODS!" He thundered. "FATHERS, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, YOUR SON?" Fierce Deity lifted both of his hands to the heavens, begging for an answer.

"WHERE IN THE UNIVERSE AM I? HOW DO I GET HOME? HOW DO I BREAK THIS CURSE YOU PUT ON ME?"

I could feel his helplessness as he cried out to whatever gods he was speaking too. Hyrule had no gods, only goddesses. I was as intrigued as I was saddened by this emotional, desperate pleading.

He stopped ranting and started pacing around in a state of extreme agitation. The broken pieces of furniture that stood in his way were kicked to the side.

I tried to call out to him. "Fierce Deity?"

He whipped his head to the sound of my voice. He pointed a finger at me and looked ready to spout a stream of vile words. Rather, he stormed off to the doors.

I scrambled to my feet and I ran faster than he walked, and stood in front of the doors. There was not much I could do to stop him though. My magic was limited in stopping angry giants.

He caught up with me and hardly acknowledged my place at the door. The Fierce Deity swung the doors open and pushed me out of the way. He didn't take more than a few steps before he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Princess Zelda, _WHO_ is _THAT_?"

Taran!

I turned around just in time to see Fierce Deity fly over to Taran. The smaller man's eyes bulged with genuine fear and he tried to get out of the giant's way. Fierce Deity was faster.

He caught Taran's throat in his mighty hand and slammed him against the wall. The Fierce Deity lifted Taran over his head. The Ambassador's feet dangled high above the floor. I watched in horror, unable to speak or move. My words were stuck in my throat. Shock rooted me to the spot. Taran feebly clutched at Fierce Deity's wrists and a frightful, choking gurgle spat from his mouth as he tried to yell for help.

The Fierce Deity's teeth were bared and his white eyes were narrow slits. I had never seen a more inhuman face than that. He no longer seemed to be sane. Ironically, he looked like he was the one possessed.

So great was his wrath. I could feel his shared emotions pulse through my veins.

He leaned his face close to Taran's, their noses barely touching. His white eyes pierced Taran's brown ones. Fierce Deity opened his mouth, and out of it came a language that I had never before heard. The tongue was harsh and guttural. Vowels and consonants crashed together in an unappealing jumble of foreign words. There was no pause in between his gibberish, only an angry, unbroken stream of violent speaking. I hated the sound of the language. It was deeply sinister and the hair on my neck rose as the Fierce Deity continued to speak at Taran.

Taran had stopped trying to make noise, but he listened to his captor, transfixed on the unusual language. I saw astonishment and awe flash across his face.

Fierce Deity must have seen it too. Something inside him snapped and he completely stopped speaking in mid-sentence. He glared at Taran and pushed him into the wall once more before letting him fall to the ground. Wasting not even a second to look at his handiwork, the white giant turned and began to run down the hallway. The corridor shook with every heavy footfall. I ached to run after him, but I knew that there was nothing I could do to calm him.

I had to check on Taran first. What a fool he had been for following me. I knelt down beside the man, who had unfortunately passed out. I sensed the presence of another person running down the hallway. A few people in fact were coming right for us. Kael was the first one that I saw. He spotted us and came running over to where his father lay prostrate on the floor.

"Kael," I said. "Your father is alright, he has just lost consciousness."

The boy's face was unreadable. He knelt on the floor next to me. With trepidation, he reached out and stroked his father's mussed gray hair. Kael shyly glanced over at me. Our eyes met and he hesitantly opened his mouth.

"Princess," he whispered in a frightened voice. "I…you cannot…" The boy lost his nerve and his lips clamped shut.

A whole rabble of guards swarmed around us, talking loudly and exclaiming at the state of the library. All around me was confusion and chaos. Only Kael and I were silent and still, his eyes locked on me in a silent conversation that he did not have the courage to voice.


	7. Sinking

**Here's the next installment of "Healing the Moon!" I was planning on posting this soon after the last chapter was posted, but I've been very busy with working on an original story that I'd like to publish on the eBook format by next April. This is a huge, exciting step for me as a writer! Anyways, please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review! Thank you all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story thus far. Happy reading :)**

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**I used my magic to sneak** out of the castle. The guards had put the entire palace on lockdown. Nobody was allowed out, and only the councilmen were allowed to enter inside. Word of a maniacal man in white clothes had spread through my home like wildfire. A hysterical woman was weeping her story to the guards, saying that she had almost been run over by him as he came barreling around a corner. Many saw him burst open the main doors of the castle and scale the walls of the courtyard, disappearing to the world beyond.

I had to find him immediately.

I was now wandering through the edge of the woods, tracking him with the Triforce. The connection was hazy, but I was doing my best to locate him. He was not far from me. I concentrated hard on where I thought he would be, and I used my magic to send myself to that spot.

His broad body crashed into me as I landed right in his path. For a second, I cowered below him as I expected him to physically harm me for getting in his way. I waited for some sort of blow to fall, but nothing happened. I straightened up and saw the Fierce Deity just standing there, perfectly still. He had absolutely no emotions. For some reason, his lack of feelings triggered my own emotions.

"What is wrong with you? Do you even realize what you've done? You attacked an innocent man, destroyed a part of MY home, and you even hurt me! Do you care?" I bellowed, my temper quickly getting the better of me. I never became angry unless I had a good reason, and this man had given me more than enough reason!

"I knew it was a terrible idea to have you leave the Manor. Was I wrong? No! You were wrong!" I suddenly felt an onslaught of confusing, overwhelming feelings as the Fierce Deity vaulted me back into the emotional connection we shared.

His breathing was rapid and panicked. He began to pace back and forth, much like he had done in the library, except out in the woods, there was nothing to kick or throw.

"It was my fault, wasn't it?" He muttered breathlessly. "It was because of my own doing that the gods saw fit to curse me. I am always in the wrong, it seems!" The Fierce Deity walked right up to me and threw his arms out.

"I did it for my own good! I always do things for my own good! But look how things have played out for me!" He pounded his fists against his chest.

"Look!" yelled the man, growing more distraught by the second. "Look what I have done to myself!"

I could only stand there, stammering like a fool. What could I have said? I was utterly lost and hopelessly in the dark. The Fierce Deity's shouts echoed through the trees until silence claimed the woods again. He aimed his face on mine, and I looked him in the eyes and assumed that he was doing the same.

"I have destroyed myself," he said in a hoarse whisper. I felt a sense of complete grief emanating from him. It was something that I had not yet felt from the Fierce Deity. My anger fizzled out and my heart softened for him.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

Always the one to invade my personal space, he leaned over until his white hair tickled my forehead. "You would not understand," he replied, shaking his head sorrowfully.

I would not give up so easily. "Try me! Let me understand," I begged. He continued to shake his head. I felt him slip deeper into his sadness.

"I want to help you, let me help you!" This time I was the one to come closer to him. The Fierce Deity did not back away. The man's helpless expression looked pitiful compared to his usual sullen scowl or arrogant smirk.

"Why?" he asked softly. "Why do you want to help me?" His deep voice sounded all the more rich as he used a gentler tone.

"Because…" I was about to admit something that not even I could explain. "I care."

In one swift movement, Fierce Deity had taken hold of me. His rough gloved hands were holding my face. That was the first time he touched me. I gasped as he pulled me closer.

"Do you? Do you really care?" He was begging for me to answer, to give him validation that somebody did care for him. The Fierce Deity's thumbs started stroking my flushed cheeks. His shoulders relaxed as he did so, and he let out a sigh. His breath warmed my chilly face and even though we were in the middle of an intense, emotional exchange in which I had no idea what was happening, it was all I could do to keep from falling onto his chest.

He tilted his head to the side and his mouth slowly traveled to my ear, speaking as he did so. "After all the things that I have done in my life, you should not care for me," he threatened in a whisper. Resting his lips against the hair that fell over my ears, he said his final piece.

"It is more than I deserve…" His voice rumbled into my ear. I shivered, but it was not from the cold. Not even caring about the implications and past the point of trying to understand why I felt the way that I did, I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch.

He pressed his lips closer to my ear and his forehead rested against my temple. We stood there in a strange suspension, neither one pulling away or giving up the moment. His emotions were…peaceful. They were not furiously buzzing around in my head, as they had been a few seconds ago. I felt another connection with him being created. In that moment, I experienced an entire world of depth open up to my senses. I was lost, drowning in the vulnerability he was showing me.

Yet it was only for a fleeting moment. A disconnect was made when he abruptly slid his fingers off my cheeks and pulled his face away from mine.

There was a void of nothingness between us. No emotions, no feelings; he cut me off as quickly as he had let me in. Even his expressive face was as unreadable as his eyes. The Fierce Deity slowly backed away from me.

"What is wrong?" I asked like a dazed person. "Why did you pull away?"

He remained stone faced and silent. Fierce Deity had blocked me out. I was bewildered and hurt, hanging on to that one second where I could feel his soul pouring into mine. Yet now there was nothing.

"I am going back to the Manor," he said flatly. Even his glorious, deep voice was deadpan.

"Would you like for me to call you a sleigh?" I asked. He shook his head no.

"I shall walk."

And so he did. Fierce Deity turned his back to me and disappeared into the depths of the forest.

"**What a mess!" **Moira was standing in the middle of the destroyed library, hands on her hips and scowling at the disarray.

Servants were scurrying around, picking up broken furniture and scattered papers. They all sounded like bees buzzing while they worked, every last one of them talking about what had taken place less than an hour ago. I carefully stepped over a toppled bookcase and headed towards the iron staircase. Moira caught sight of me. She marched over to me like an angry hen.

"Zelda! What in heaven's name have you let loose in this castle?"

"I am sorry Moira, but I do not have time for this. The council has called an emergency meeting and I am already going to be late as it is." I hastily said. She clucked her tongue and followed me as I went up the stairs to the second floor.

"You can take five minutes to explain to me WHO that man was, because I know that you know!"

The second floor was in worse condition than the one below. It was nothing more than just a wide balcony that ran the perimeter of the room, and it contained the books of history, science, mathematics, theology and the map section.

That's where I was headed. The Fierce Deity's rampage seemed to have started from there, leading out into the rest of the library. He had mentioned something called Arkhaos, not finding it mentioned in our books or on our maps. I wanted to see for myself. Maybe he had been too caught up in his raging emotions and missed something important.

I quickly sifted through the ripped papers. Moira still stood over me, silently disapproving of my actions. My search was of no use. There was nothing out of the ordinary I could find. No sign of a place called Arkhaos or any uncharted territory that could possibly be this so called land. I hoisted myself to my feet and smoothed out the wrinkles on my gown.

Dread filled me. It was time to go meet with the council.

"**The council has called a meeting **for a sudden issue that has been brought to our attention." Declared High Councilman Caldwell. All fifteen councilmen were seated around a long, rectangular table that had been brought into the Throne Room. I sat upon my throne, looking down at all the sour faces of men who had their day interrupted by this emergency meeting.

"We are aware that a ferocious, strange looking man has destroyed the Royal Library and then physically assaulted Ambassador Taran, who is now lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing." Councilman Caldwell's attention turned from the table of councilmen to me. "We are also aware that you sent away a group of guards who were trying to enter the Library, and you went in alone." Caldwell stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully.

"Princess, how did that man get into the Library without any single person seeing him. He would have had to know the Castle very well in order to go a route away from the main hallways."

His eyes were gently reprimanding me as I tried not to squirm in my seat. Caldwell was a sharp man. He was sure to have heard of my "strange behavior" from Moira, and then this incident with the Library and the Fierce Deity would have aroused his suspicions. Putting two and two together, he would have figured out that I had something to hide.

"Now Princess, I hate to accuse you of anything as we all know that you have your kingdom's best interests at heart, but do you have anything to do with that man?"

I stayed silent for a moment, wondering how to answer. It would be terrible to lie to them. I could not justify lying to them, but I could not let them know the entire truth of it either.

"I will not lie to my faithful council," I started. "I do have an association with the man who destroyed the library." Quiet murmurs broke out around the table as the men put their gray heads together. I put up my hand, signaling for silence. Still stroking his beard, Caldwell nodded for me to continue.

"That man is in need of my help." I paused. "I cannot be frank about the nature of his need, but I can assure every one of you that he will not be a danger to Hyrule." I could only hope that he would not turn out to be a threat…

"If this alarms you, then I understand. His actions in the library have been very alarming, but trust me when I say that he cannot be denied our help. My help, specifically."

A man on the far end of the table, sitting next to Caldwell, stood to his feet. "Permission to speak, Princess?"

"Say your piece, Sir." I obliged.

The man clasped his hands together and spoke in a high, clear voice. "May I ask, if our own Hero of Light, Link of Ordon, is aware of this matter?"

By the grace of good training and practice, my face remained stoic and unreadable.

"The Hero does as the Hero pleases. He is not formally under my command. If he feels that there is a threat to the safety and peace of his country, then he will feel led to defend."

That was not an outright lie. It was true! Link had no formal obligations to me. I believed him to be higher than myself, as he was the Hero of Old reincarnated. Who was I to command him?

I prayed that this answer would appease the councilman for now. We needed to get far away from the subject of Link, lest they begin to ask too many questions that I could not avoid squirming my way out of answering correctly.

The councilman opened his mouth to say more, but I silenced him with a look. He sat down hesitantly.

"So you say that this man has a need of a sensitive nature of which we cannot know?" Caldwell asked. Many of the councilman looked to him and then back to me. "That is terribly suspicious behavior, Princess. I am not so sure that the council and I are entirely pleased by that."

One of the eldest gentlemen in the room stood up. "I believe that we should bring him in here and question him!" Many nodded in agreement. "After what he did, he has no right to privacy of any kind. He is a menace."

Loud voices of agreement began to interject, speaking over one another. Caldwell stood still, listening to the jumbled voices around him. My heart began to pound faster. I could not let them question him. They could NEVER know what he was. All could be lost if they knew that he harbored the body of their beloved Hero…

I stepped down from my seat on the throne and I boldly strode over to the table of jabbering men. Caldwell's eyes followed me as I took my place at the head of the table, opposite from him. I tightened my jaw and looked him hard in the eyes, letting him know that I was not about to back down on my choice. He would respect that look. It was one that I had learned from my father, and one that Caldwell knew all too well from the former King and now from his daughter.

He raised both of his hands and yelled over the men, calling for silence. A hush fell over the throne room.

"Let us hear what the Princess has decided." He said, still looking me in the eye. Fifteen pairs of eyes were focused on me, disapproving.

"This man is my responsibility." I began. I would be very unpopular after this declaration. "I beg of you to trust me. It would be in your best interest to let me deal with this as a private matter. He will not be brought in for questioning, he will not be under your command, and he will NOT be in contact with any of you. He is my guest and my problem."

Caldwell crossed his arms. All eyes were on him now.

"Very well, Princess," he said. "I trust you. You have not lead us astray in your rule thus far, and I have faith that you are making the right choice now." His voice was begrudging, but sincere. I could see it in his eyes. He trusted me, even if he did not like it.

"I do have one request that I hope you will respect."

"And what is that?"

"He is to be banned from the Castle. After the uproar he caused, I am sure that the sight of him once again will set everyone off. Also, we do not want another important room destroyed. If he is seen near or in Hyrule Castle one more time, then we will have no choice but to bring him under the Council's custody, no matter what protection you try to give him."

That was fair enough. I did not even want him at my home in the first place.

"I will respect your request, Sir."

Caldwell's slight smile would have gone unnoticed by a less observant man. I did like him. He was High Councilman when my father was alive, and I understood why my father appointed him as such. He was calm, respectable, genial, and fair. I kept him on as my High Councilman for the same reasons that my father did.

"This meeting is to be adjourned," I said, dying to get back to the Manor and see if my raging giant had calmed himself down.

"Not so hasty, Princess Zelda," said Caldwell. He gestured for me to take a seat. Confused, I sat down at the head of the table, not wanting to go back to my throne. I felt suddenly uncomfortable. What else did the council have to say?

"At the time of this disturbance, Princess Zelda, we are aware that you were in a meeting with the Ambassador Taran."

Oh goddesses above, that meeting! I had nearly forgotten about that uncomfortable moment that Taran had hoped to call a proposal.

"We were hoping to go over what you two were discussing during that time." Caldwell took a seat. "Before you arrived at the Council meeting, Sir Taran's son Kael came to us and revealed that his father had plans to marry you and unite Termina and Hyrule as one ruling nation."

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples. In past Council meetings, we had all expressed our mutual dislike of Taran's antics. "You cannot possibly think I would agree to that, would you? It is ludicrous! He is only scheming for more power, that much is obvious."

Caldwell furrowed his brow. "Do not be so quick to downplay his intentions, Princess. I believe that you should highly consider this offer. In fact, I advise you to marry him and unify the two countries with your marriage."

You could have heard a feather fall to the floor. I did not know if I should laugh at him or not. Surely he was not being serious. I knew that Caldwell disliked this man more than I did. Yet his face was stony and unyielding. He was absolutely serious.

Undaunted by my shocked silence, Caldwell went on. "He has been a widower for six years, and any man would be lonely after such a long time. He has found a worthy prospect of a wife in you, and you should be flattered, Princess. And what's more, the match will be advantageous for both parties. You cannot deny him."

Finding my voice, I stood to my feet. "Oh yes, Caldwell, I can deny him and I shall." The man raised an eyebrow at my challenge. "Can you not see that this is only another ploy for power, and that he has overstepped his boundaries this time?"

Caldwell's face grew nasty. I was taken aback for a moment. I had never seen him as anything other than calm and neutral faced.

"Can YOU not see, Princess, that this will only be good for Hyrule? It will be more prosperity, more diversity, and a way for our Kingdom to expand? Hyrule has been too peaceful to conquer any other nations, so what better way to grow than to unite two Kingdoms by marriage? Our people are the same, so what difference will that make?"

"It will make all the difference!" I argued back. "How can you put entire races under one rule when they have ruled independently for who knows how long? There will be turmoil and revolution! That is what will happen in Termina if Taran succeeds in making it under his entire rule, and that is what you want Hyrule to be united with? Would you like me to do the same with our independent Kingdoms within Hyrule? If you look at our history book, you will be reminded that Hyrule wasn't as peaceful as you claim! We had Kings who tried to rule the Zora, the Gorons, and even the Gerudo! You will see that they were not so successful and their heirs had to spend their entire reigns cleaning up the messes that their predecessors made! I will not have my Hyrule subjected to that! I will have none of it!"

Caldwell glared at me. "I would go look it up in our history books, but your 'guest' has destroyed them all."

The councilmen looked back and forth between Caldwell and me. Nobody said a word. Nobody said anything to defend me.

I placed my hands on the table, bracing myself.

"I will not marry Taran." I said, looking Caldwell in the eye. "There will be no argument. There will be no negotiating. I will deny him."

Caldwell slammed his fist down onto the table. I jumped ten feet in the air, startled that we was acting so violently.

"YOU IMPUDENT GIRL!" He screamed, his face getting redder by the second. "YOU ARE DENYING HYRULE THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME! ARE YOU SO STUBBORN AND SET IN YOUR WAYS THAT YOU WILL LET YOUR PREJUDICE AGAINST THIS MAN BLIND YOU FROM REALITY?" Spittle was flying from his shouting mouth. I am sure that I looked horrified. Never in my life had I known Caldwell to act this way. It was not in his nature. The faces of the councilmen looked blank and unsurprised.

Caldwell slammed his other fist on the table. He leaned forward and I took in a deep breath.

"You will do this. Will you accept his proposal or shall I make an Overrule?"

I gasped and felt tears pricking at my eyes. My father had not ever received an Overrule. Neither did his father. In fact, there had not been and Overrule since before my great grandmother Zelda's time.

The Council had one power that was a safety net if the King or Queen was not acting in the best interests of Hyrule. That was called the Overrule. The High Councilman had to draw up a declaration that the monarch was not acting in Hyrule's favor and every member of the Council was to sign that declaration. All were to unanimously agree that the monarch's decision was to be Overruled and then the High Councilman was to make a rule that would be better than the one the monarch made. The Overrule was used in instances of poor ruling, or if the monarch was making a rule that was selfish and self-serving. A High Councilman could only Overrule a monarch five times, if the entire council unanimously agreed and signed the declaration.

I was not too fearful, however. Surely the other councilmen could see that Caldwell was irrational and speaking with his emotions. Surely, they would see the nonsense and danger in this marital union.

I closed my eyes. "I will not back down. I will not marry that man." When I opened them again, Caldwell was busily scribbling away at a piece of parchment. I read the top of the paper. It said, "The Princess Zelda shall marry Ambassador Taran and unite the Kingdom of Hyrule with the country of Termina."

I watched as he drew fifteen straight lines underneath his own signature. The second he was finished, he passed the paper to the councilman on his right. The man picked up his quill. I felt sick as I watched the point of the quill hover over the paper. The councilman looked confused, as if he really did not know what he was doing. Black ink stained the surface of the white parchment as he made his signature. That was only one man. Fourteen more had to agree before my kingdom was in jeopardy.

With a sinking heart and growing horror, I watched as the remaining fourteen councilmen signed my life away on the parchment. Every man who signed that paper had the same confused, blank look about him. It made no sense to me. They should all know better than to make me do this. They all despised Taran, and Caldwell being the biggest Taran-hater. The offending piece of paper made it's way back into Caldwell's hands. The future of my life and my Kingdom was now being rolled up into a scroll, ready to be officiated. Shamelessly, I let tears fall from my eyes. They had never seen me break down before. I hardly cared. Nothing mattered now. My own rule had been undermined and I was just dishonored with an Overrule. I was to be wife to Taran. Hyrule would no longer be independent. Who would be the main ruler? Taran or myself? If he was to be the King over all, including me, then I might have no more say in what happened to my people.

"It won't be so bad Princess," came Caldwell's reassurance. I glared at him. "He will be a good husband. Hyrule can only benefit from this."

I ignored his words and walked to my throne. I stood before it and turned to face the Council.

"I will repeal this Overrule. I will be dead in my grave before I let Hyrule fall into the hands of a greedy man." Caldwell's face fell and he looked angry.

"Princess, you cannot repeal this Overrule! It cannot be done!"

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.

"Even if I cannot repeal it, I will find a way to undo this inevitable disaster that you are bringing upon us. And when I do, you will be tried as a traitor to the throne and you will be banished from my Kingdom."

**I was fuming all the way **to the Hospital Wing. I had stormed out of the throne room, letting Caldwell and my traitorous council eat my words. I had never been so angry in my life. What in the goddesses' name had gotten into all of them? I recalled their blank faces and Caldwell's outburst. It was all so bizarre!

I was on my way to "congratulate" Taran on his engagement, more so his success in finally getting all the power he wanted. The door to the wing was in my sight. I stormed through it, walking past each room and looking in to see if Taran was in there. Of course, he was at the end of the hallway. A small glass window on the door revealed that Taran was awake, laying in the hospital bed and conversing with his son. The door was open a crack, and I could hear his voice. Just before I pushed the door open and burst into the room, I heard Taran angrily mention the Fierce Deity. For a second I paused. His voice was faint, but I could make out every biting word. I crouched down so they could not see me through the window.

"…He spoke in Majora's tongue! Did you hear that son?" Said Taran. At the mention of the name Majora, my spine tingled all the way down to my stomach. I closed my eyes and leaned against the cool, wooden frame of the door.

Majora.

Where had I heard that name before? I searched for an explanation, but I came up with no reason for the familiarity of that name. I listened again to what Taran was saying.

"I knew that he was alive. The Moon Disaster gave me evidence enough that they were _both_ alive at that time, but now I believe we have found _him_ again." The sheets ruffled as Taran sat up in his bed. "Do you know what this means, Kael? If we can get our hands on him, we can—"

A bewildered looking nurse walked past me as she opened the door to Taran's room. Acting as though she had NOT just seen her Princess sitting on the floor and eavesdropping on her patient, the nurse happily greeted Taran. I stood up. I did not want to see him.

The mystery surrounding the Fierce Deity had deepened. The Moon Disaster had been mentioned once again, and now the name Majora was thrown into the mix. Surprisingly, Taran had answers. Fierce Deity had answers. Somehow, the two parties were connected.

Yet my own story, outside of the Fierce Deity, had grown complex. I was being forced into a marriage with a man that only wanted power, and my council had ignored my warnings.

And yet, that same man seemed to have knowledge that I was desperate to attain. I had to tie these two stories together and finally see the bigger picture. Maybe then I could truly help the Fierce Deity. I still was not even sure how I could help.

I left the Hospital Wing. I decided that I would go back to the Manor, and I would not leave the Fierce Deity alone until he told me the entire truth.


	8. Sorrow

**I decided to go ahead and post another chapter for the weekend. I'm planning on posting the next one Friday night. Please enjoy and happy reading :)**

* * *

**A memory came to me.**

"Mother! Mother!" A little girl,dressed to the nines in a pink gown ran through the hallways of an ornate palace. That little girl was me, a tiny Princess, no older than five years of age. I remembered the way my heart beat as fast as it could as my short legs frantically ran to my mother's wing of the castle. The door to her chamber was heavy and I leaned my childish frame against it, pushing with all the strength I could muster. I fell to the floor in a heap of silk as the door suddenly gave way. There was my Mother, sitting on a chaise with an embroidery project in her lap. I collected myself up off the floor and I ran to her. My fingers clutched onto her brocaded skirt and the kind of sobs that only childhood can cry began to pour out of me.

"Darling child, what is the matter?" my dear Mother asked as she pushed the farbics off her lap and gathered me up in her comforting arms.

"My friend Zenith told me that her parents did something called an engagement and now she has to marry this boy when she grows up." I choked out between sobs. My Mother smoothed out my hair and hugged me closer.

"I see Zelda, but why is this making you so upset?"

Appalled that my own Mother could not see the depths of my earth-shattering problems, I pulled myself away from her and crossed my arms.

"Because! Zenith said that her mum and dad did the same thing to her older sister Dana, and now that she is grown up, she has to marry a man that has warts and smells like rotting onions." My lower lip wobbled as I thought of poor Dana's fate. "Zenith says that this boy she is going to marry is a mean boy, and he will grow up to be a mean man."

In the comforting way that every Mother should, she took out a soft handkerchief and wiped the tears that were streaming down my face.

"And the worse part is," I tried to say, but a sudden fit of weeping came over me and I could not bring myself to speak of the awful thing that Zenith had told me.

"Hush your crying, dear. Tell me what is the worse part," said my mother as she kissed my tear-stained cheeks to try and console me.

"The worse part is," I hiccupped. "The worse part is that Zenith said that EVERY parent does the engagement and all little girls have to marry who their parents pick for them!"

At the confession of this terrible news, I wrapped my arms around my Mother's neck and cried onto her shoulder. Her gentle hands rubbed my back as she let me have my cry.

"Mummy, please don't make me marry a man who is mean or ugly! Please don't engage me to anybody!"

Over the sound of my sobs, I heard my Mother's clear, sparkling laugh. I pulled away from her again, all crying put on hold, and looked her in the eye. She was smiling. Her brown eyes sparkled and a few strands of light blonde hair fell over her forehead as she laughed.

"What's so funny?" I asked, hurt that she would find this situation amusing. My future marriage was at stake! I could be married to a goat for all she cared!

"I am laughing because you needn't worry yourself, daughter." She said as she stroked my cheek. I still did not understand.

"Are you and father not going to make me marry anybody?" I asked, hardly believing that Zenith could be wrong.

She looked down at me with a mother's compassion. "I would never do such a thing. You will never be forced into a marriage, that I can promise."

I felt a world of relief as I heard those words. My Mother always kept her promises. She leaned forward and playfully rubbed her nose against mine.

"And if anyone tries to make my Princess marry a man that she does not like, I will turn into a mother bear and protect my little cub!" I grabbed her face and kissed her cheeks, mimicking her actions.

"Thank you, Mother." I whispered, though a child's whisper is always as loud as regular talking. "But what about Zenith and Dana? Why do they have to marry men they don't like?"

My Mother sat back in her chair and I leaned forward and laid against her stomach.

"Some mummies and daddies want their daughters to marry boys because they think that it will help the daddy's profession, or it will give them more money in the future. There are many reasons why parents do this. It does not mean that the girl and boy love each other. In fact, they may never even like each other, so both of them are very unhappy people. My father loved me so much that he did not want me to be a pawn in a political game. The goddesses blessed his decision and his little girl married a Prince! Your father and I chose each other. We fell in love and became husband and wife. It is only fair that we allow our only precious daughter to do the same. We do not want you to have an unhappy life, like so many poor girls do."

I thought about her words. I was too little to understand what a "pawn in a political game" meant, but it did not sound like a good thing. I thought about Dana and Zenith and wondered if they were pawns and what kind of game their father was playing. One more question popped into my head.

"Mother, how will I know which man to marry?"

"Oh!" she said. I could hear in her voice that she was not ready for such a question. She stroked my back as I waited for her to answer.

"You know how much you love your father and I?" She asked.

"Yes!" I answered happily. I dearly loved my parents.

"Well, there is a different kind of love. It is the love that your father and I have." I nodded, wanting her to go one. I knew that they loved each other, but I wanted to know more.

"Grown up love is such a difficult thing to explain to someone who has only been alive for five years," she teased. Her smile faltered at my eager face. I was not letting this topic slide.

"When you meet somebody who makes you feel things that you have never felt before, and you would do anything for them without hesitation, it is a sign that you will love him."

"But how do I love him?" I cried out.

"That is something you will learn on your own, child, and you will learn because you will be free to love and marry any man you please. As long is he is a good man and truly loves you. I promise you this. You will never be caught in a trap that you cannot escape. I will make sure of it."

The memory faded as my vision blurred with tears. I was walking the hallway of the Manor, making my way to the small library there. My mission was to find something, anything that could help me escape this trap that I was caught in. I wrapped my arms around myself and wished that my mother was here to turn into a mother bear and protect her cub. My greatest fear as a little girl was now being realized and my mother was not here to protect me. The promises of my childhood were shattered. The reality of the present was too much to bear as I looked back upon that day where my mother had comforted me. Every inch of that blasted Manor rudely reminded me that my mother and father were gone, and I was left alone to deal with the mess that I was in. If only she knew that I was indeed being forced to marry a man, and a snobby, rude, arrogant man at that. I would rather have warts and a bad smelling man any day rather than Taran.

The door to the library was closed, but the presence I could feel inside the room was enough to wake me from my troubled thoughts. I had nearly forgotten about him, the Fierce Deity. Our exchange in the woods seemed like so many years ago. I closed my eyes and asked myself if I really wanted to deal with him right now.

His emotions felt calm, for now. Perhaps it would be a good distraction, trying to solve the mystery around him. I grasped the latch and pushed the door open.

The room was small, but snug and welcoming. Mismatched chairs were grouped around a stone fireplace and an ancient oak table stood in the middle of the room. The walls were lined with shelves and a book was crammed into every inch the shelves could spare. An open door at the far right corner of the room led to an office of sorts that my father used when he would come here and conduct business. That office was mine now. The Fierce Deity looked enormous in the library, which was much smaller than the one at my castle. Our collection here may have been smaller, but the books were ones that my father had considered too important and personal to keep in a place where anybody could have access to them, or tear them to shreds in a rampage…

He was not rampaging now. A book was resting in his hands and his head moved slightly as his eyes scanned the text of the page. All he needed was a pair of spectacles to rest upon the edge of his nose, and he would have made the perfect librarian.

"You exhaust me," I said.

Acting like he had no idea that I just walked into the room, he looked up at me and laughed bitterly. He casually flipped the page of his book. "And why is that?" he asked cynically.

I half laughed, half sighed. Was this man serious?

"You're never consistent! You're unstable, changing your emotions in a second! One moment you're trying to get into a brawl with my friend, then you're staring up at the moon and acting all pensive, and then the next day you try to be somewhat friendly, only to turn around and destroy an entire room like a raging lunatic, and just moments after that, you became…" How was I to describe his behavior during our last encounter without it being embarrassing. Vulnerable? Desperate? Unwittingly seductive…

"You just…you just changed your emotions drastically. And let me tell you, friend, it is very hard to follow."

My only answer was the sound of ruffling paper as the Fierce Deity thumbed through the book. "And why is this a problem for you?" he finally asked, not sounding even slightly interested in my plight.

"Why is that a problem?" I restated, dumbfounded at this man! "It's a problem because I never know what you're going to do next! It keeps me on my toes! I'm walking on pins and needles with you, and like I said, it's exhausting. And I have only been with you for two days!"

Fierce Deity shut the book with a snap and he turned his full attention on me. A smirk decorated his face and he shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the way I was created," he answered nonchalantly, as if that should have been obvious already. "You are correct. I am not a stable man." At this he picked up another book. He inspected the title and, dissatisfied, put it down on a pile of other rejected books. The Fierce Deity looked back up at me.

He leaned over the table that was between us. "One could say that I go through cycles of emotions," he said in a hushed voice. "Much like the moon cycles through her phases, so I go through cycles of my own. The moon and I, we are one in the same." He let those cryptic words hang in the air as he turned away from me and picked another book off the shelf behind him.

I had nothing to say back to him. What could I say? He left me absolutely speechless. The tall bay window to my left filtered in gray late afternoon light. Another snow shower was on its way. The sky was completely filled with flat gray clouds. It struck me as pathetically humorous how the weather of Hyrule was matching my mood.

"It took you long enough to get back here." The Fierce Deity's voice brought me back to the conversation.

"That is because I was busy cleaning up the mess you left back at my castle. Thank you for that, by the way."

"Oh, well, as long as it's clean now," he replied with amusement in his voice.

At least HE could look back on today and laugh. "You aren't going to tear up this library, are you? I've had enough of that for one day."

He tossed another book onto the reject pile. "No, not this time. I already expect to find nothing that I'm looking for." He reached out and plucked a book from a very high shelf. "I will not be having another tantrum anytime soon, not about that at least." His smirk widened and he took to reading his latest book.

"I'm sorry that you did not find what you were looking for," I said, hoping to draw the conversation from tiring banter into something relevant.

"What is…Arkhaos?" I asked, hoping that it was finally safe to bring it up.

The Fierce Deity looked up from his book and was silent for a moment. He sighed and put the open book down on the table. "It is the land where I come from and it is nowhere on your maps nor is it mentioned in any of your books. To you, it might as well not exist. That is what angered me so much; I am lost in a world that has no knowledge of my old home"

His emotions suddenly became agitated. I braced myself for an onslaught of temper.

"I really have no idea how that boy traveled between Arkhaos and his own world! It baffles me. It hardly makes any sense." I expected him to rip a book in half with his teeth or something heinous like that, but much to my relief, his emotions settled down and he picked up his book again.

I sat down in a plush winged armchair by the dormant fireplace. No, not many things made sense in this life I thought to myself as I watched the white giant peruse through two more books. I let myself become overwhelmed the events of today. Caldwell's red, angry face kept coming to mind. Taran's face came next. That was the face of my Kingdom's future King. I closed my eyes as I felt a rush of sadness over my fate.

"What is wrong with you?" asked the Fierce Deity. He had a book in his hands waiting to be opened. Though his voice was slightly brusque, I could feel genuine concern from him. This caught me off guard.

I asked him, "Do you remember that man you attacked outside of the library?" The Fierce Deity scoffed and I could see his grip on the book tightening.

"Yes." He answered sharply. "Who was that man?"

"That was Taran. He is an ambassador from Termina and…well, I guess he's important." I was still not too thrilled with the idea of him being my supposed fiancé.

The Fierce Deity's mood darkened. "I do _not_ like him," he growled ominously in his rumbling voice. He stepped around the table and walked over to where I was sitting.

"Oh, you don't like him?" I said, pretending to sound surprised. "I thought that you two were going to have a jolly time at the tavern tonight."

The Fierce Deity raised his eyebrows and smiled. Not a smirk or a grimace or a devilish grin, but a real smile that lit up his entire face. My knees felt weak even though I was sitting down.

"Was that sarcasm? From you? I'm impressed!"

I laughed softly as the Fierce Deity continued to smile at me. My cheeks felt hot as they flushed pink from his gaze. Since I was rendered silent and silly and had no other clever response, the Fierce Deity continued with the main topic at hand.

"What about that man?"

I decided to turn the tables on him. I would tell him of my upcoming nuptials another time.

"Indeed, what about that man." I gestured for him to sit, but he declined by shaking his head no. I continued on. "Why did you attack him so violently?"

His response was quick and to the point. "I wanted to."

"What made you want to?"

His next answer was not so immediate as the first. The Fierce Deity took his time thinking about it. I felt the wheels in his mind turning, like he was sorting out information he felt like giving away and what he wanted to keep for himself.

"I admit," he said after a moment or two. "That when I saw him, it brought back memories of something that deeply angered me…and something that I severely hate."

I recalled the pure rage that I had seen on his face. He had looked like a demon straight out of a nightmare. Undoubtedly, there was hate in his heart for whatever Taran reminded him of. Regardless, I was excited that he was actually telling me things.

"Does this thing you hate have anything to do with the language that you were speaking?"

He looked at me quizzically. "Was I speaking another language?" He asked. "I had no idea!"

"Yes! You were speaking some language that sounded horrendous. I never want to hear it again."

"I do not blame you. That language was the tongue of an enemy's clan. That enemy was the 'thing that I hate," and I suppose that seeing Taran sparked my hatred and when I saw him…I saw the face of my enemy."

A single name lingered in my consciousness. It was the name that I heard Taran whisper to his son, as he was talking about Fierce Deity speaking in the strange language. I dared to say it now the Fierce Deity.

"Majora?"

The Fierce Deity gazed down at me with confusion and outrage. His emotions were rapidly rising to a boiling point as the name rolled off my tongue and into the air.

"Where did you hear that name?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm like the stillness before a vicious storm. He took a few short steps to my chair and he stood over me threateningly. I tried not to cower before him.

"I heard that name from Taran," I said breathlessly. The Fierce Deity did not stop his towering over me. I could feel anger seeping from him. I did not even need my strange connection with him to know that he was entirely mad. He leaned down and pointed a great big finger in my face.

"Do not ever say that name so casually in my presence. In fact, I shall not ever hear your lips utter than sinful word ever again. Am I understood?"

I whispered a nervous yes. Reluctantly, as if he feared I would stand up and shout the name for all of Hyrule to hear, he backed away and gave me room to breathe again. I was too afraid to open my mouth again, so I waited for him to explain why he hated Majora so much, for I assumed that this was the 'thing that he hated' and had something to do with the enemy clan and the language.

Yet he said nothing more about it. He was far too furious about the name to have a decent talk about it. I detected confusion amongst his anger.

I was gutsy enough to ask one question that I was sure was on his mind too.

"Why do you think Taran knows that name?"

He was staring out the window, or at least I thought so. His face was pointed to the skies outside.

"I have not a thought for why he would know," he admitted. "It is a mystery to even me."

A mystery to even him? I looked up at him and chewed on my lower lip. He was trying so hard to keep me in the dark about the truth of who he was. "Would it not be so much easier to tell me of your past? Why don't you sit down and tell me how you came to be?"

He laughed. "Easier? I think not. All I need is for you to provide resources and support for me to find a way to break my curse. How about you tell me why you hate this place so much?"

"What?" How did he know I hated the Manor? "That is none of your concern! My business is my business!"

The Fierce Deity grinned devilishly at me. "Exactly. My business is my business." He turned away from me and made his way back to the table piled high with books.

"You have your secrets and I have mine!" He called with his back still to me. "Maybe I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." His fingers grazed over the gold-leaf title of the book in his hands. I could not make out the title. The Fierce Deity flipped the book open and started turning the pages.

A thought struck me as I watched him flip through the book. Earlier that day when he had snatched Taran's letter out of my hand, he grew angry and gave the letter back because he claimed that he could not read my "barbaric language." I hoisted myself out of the chair and walked over to him. White eyes glanced in my direction as I took my place at his side.

"I thought that you could not read," I said matter-of-factly. His white eyes turned on me again.

"Would you like to know how I learned to read your language in less than an hour?"

"I would absolutely love to," I replied. The Fierce Deity pulled out a rickety old chair from under the table. "Take a seat," he said. "I will explain to you what I know of how this mask works." I obliged and took the chair that he offered me.

"Before I arrived at your once grand library, I looked through the memories of your friend, the boy's body that my mask is on. It was from his own memories of learning to read that I taught myself. I learned from his memories." He paused to give me a few seconds to wrap my head around that bit of information.

"You mean to tell me," I said, a little dumbfounded, "that in less than an hour, you learned to read by looking at Link's memories of learning how to read?" The Fierce Deity proudly nodded yes.

"You can look through his memories?" I was thunderstruck at this.

"Oh yes!" he exclaimed, still feeling prideful that he could do such a thing. "I have complete access to any memory of his that I want. He has quite a few interesting stories. Was he a wolf at one point?"

"Yes he was, actually. You see, a few years ago, Hyrule was under something called Twilight and—wait! That is beside the point!" I put my elbow on the table and rested my head on my fist. "You can see Link's memories, but can he see yours?"

"Oh no," said the Fierce Deity. "He can see what I allow him to see, but I allow him to see nothing. My will dictates what he can do, see, or think, and my will allows him no freedom from my grasp. I am the captor, not the captive."

My heart sank. Poor Link. My friend was trapped inside his own body.

"Does this make sense to you," asked the Fierce Deity.

"It makes as much sense as it can, I suppose. You are the one who possesses him. There is something that I have noticed, though."

"And what is that?"

"How is it that I can feel _your_ feelings?"

"It is a complete accident that you can feel my feelings, to be truthful." He said. "When you and your companions were in the woods, I felt your presences drawing close to me. I possessed Link's mind because he was the one who was most vulnerable to me, since I guess his ancestor had used me a long time ago. Though at that moment, I thought that he was the same person as the boy your great grandmother knew. It excited me that he was there again, for I had believed that the day he would return would never come. I manipulated his mind so strongly that it possessed your mind as well since you were also vulnerable to me. Your strange friend was not so vulnerable to me, yet I still managed to accidentally posses her too."

"That is so…predatory," I remarked.

"I know. It is a brilliant design. My mask was crafted by clever gods…" The Fierce Deity paused. I wanted to inquire about these "gods" but he loudly interrupted me.

"In any case, that connection was supposed to break but it remains because of one thing." He came towards me and picked up my left hand in both of his big, gloved hands.

His thumb grazed over my glowing Triforce. "It is because of this," he reverently breathed, "we share a continuous bond. This power that resides in his body connects with yours, even though he has no control over his own facilities any longer. This relic still functions regardless."

I did not draw my hand from his grasp, but rather let it stay in his hands. "Is this connection involuntary?" I asked. At least I had answers for why I could feel every single thing he felt.

The giant man squeezed his hands over mine before letting me go. "No. I am in complete control of it."

This terrified me! He willingly let this emotional bond between us stay open even though he knew I could feel everything he did! Every emotion, everything that he would want to hide, he let me feel. It scared me because what if he could feel mine as well? My emotions were much too revealing…

"Can you feel mine as well?" I blurted out. I felt myself shamefully panic at the thought of him feeling my emotions as he stood close to me or touched me. He could probably feel that right now!

The Fierce Deity did not even look back at me, but his mouth twisted into a smirk and he was determined to read his book and let me wallow in my unanswered question.

"Now I have a question for you, Princess." The Fierce Deity mercifully drug me out of my increasingly fearful thoughts.

"What question do you have for me?" The Fierce Deity set the book he was reading into my hands. I instantly recognized what book he had given me.

"Tales of Termina" was a very old children's book of stories that my great Grandmother had gotten from her father when he made his first journey to Termina. Zelda had given that book to her son, who in turn handed it to his son, and finally ended up in my possession. As a child, I memorized all the stories by heart. As an adult, I was amazed at how much the tales reflected on the sinister atmosphere of Termina. Each story was plainly dark to an adult, but a child was blind to it. I kept it tucked away in this library because my father had believed it too valuable and personal to keep at the royal library.

"What happened to these pages?" asked the man as he pointed to a page in the middle of the book. The page was titled "The Two Dancing Giants" and a dimly colored picture depicted two gruesome, disfigured men who I presumed to be the "Two Dancing Giants," of this story. I flipped that page, knowing full well that every single scrap of that story was missing. When I was a girl, I would always stare of the two hideous creatures underneath the title, and I would flip the page, hoping to see the story magically appear. All I would see was the title of the next story, "The Tale of the Twelve Swimming Zora Maidens." As ugly and scary as the giants on that page were, I always wanted to know about that story. The edges of the paper suggested that they had been torn right out of the binding long ago.

"It has always been this way," I answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, for no important reason," he answered truthfully. "I was just curious."

He thumbed through the book for a few more seconds and then closed it, putting it gently on the reject pile. I watched his actions with disinterest. Why would he not just tell me who he was and what curse he needed to break? I could help him so much more if he would just open up to me.

"You know, it seems to me like those books aren't helping you in any way," I said, gesturing to the mountain of tomes. "Perhaps I could be able to help you far more if you would just tell me everything."

My companion said nothing, but stared at me with a curious frown. He set another book down and walked over to me once more. He continued to stare at me, his emotions and face solemn.

"You're not helping yourself by keeping secrets from me," I whispered, suddenly desperate to help him, to help Link. "Just let me know…"

Ever so gently, he placed a hand on my cheek. I jumped at his unexpected touch. His hand was warm on my skin and a strange, tingly feeling grew in my stomach.

Fierce Deity though felt sad, truly sad. My heart wrenched for him and his unknown source of pain.

"Do not make me relive it," was all he said. "It is too great a burden to share."

**The light of sunset **seeped under the crack of the closed door I was standing in front of. My fingertips barely grazed the beautifully wrought iron handles. My heart swelled at the thought of what lay behind the door. I dropped my hand and sighed. I was too afraid to even touch the door. Thinking about my mother earlier in the day had prompted an unrelenting torrent of memories and little moments with my parents that only lived on in my heart.

I should have been at my room in the castle, putting the memories away and moving forward with solving the problems of today. Yet I was here at the Manor, having my heart ripped open at every turn.

Reflecting on sadness is a slippery slope; when one begins to think on sad things, it is an unstoppable action and you allow yourself to be swallowed up your sorrow. It is painfully therapeutic and not helpful in the least.

But sad memories can sometimes be the most powerful ones we posses. We cannot help but think on them, more than we care to. Sometimes we secretly want to, though it pains our soul.

I knew that it would not help my cause one bit if I opened that door. It would be pouring salt on the wound to allow myself to drown in what that room meant to me.

I made up my mind and I quickly opened the door before I could do the smart thing and talk myself out of it.

Blank white sheets covered the bed, chairs, and the decorations around the room, protecting them from dust yet diminishing the beauty of the large room. Wide windows graced the west and north walls. A giant, canopy bed stood on the south wall, facing the windows. A beautiful stone fireplace with a highly polished wooden mantle was in the far right corner. A low, backless couch sat at the end of the bed and I knew that beneath the cluster of sheets in front of the windows was a collection of silk chairs and a lovely table with roses and lilies painted on the surface. I knew every detail of that room. Nothing had changed about it, except the presence of sheets covering all the beauty of the room. I longed to see it again, not just remember it. I went around the room and simultaneously pulled off every sheet and revealed what was hidden beneath. The room started to look like itself again.

The evening snowstorm had finally fallen and the light of the sunset was gray. I looked upon the fireplace and saw a sheet covering a very tall object. It was a winged leather armchair sitting in its rightful place by the fire, like a King in his throne room. As the snow outside fell, I could almost hear the girlish voice of a child asking her father to tell her a fairytale…I decided to let that sheet stay covering the chair.

I walked over to the bed and picked up the coarse white sheet in my hand. I felt of it, slowly running it over my fingers. Picking up the corner of the sheet, I ripped it off the bed and let it fall to the floor in a pile of white.

A gorgeous gold and blue quilt covered the bed. An array of equally beautiful gold and blue decorative pillows were piled up against the headboard. I titled my head to the canopy above me. Lanayru, Farore, and Din were skillfully sewn in gold thread into the blue fabric. The scene above me depicted them creating Hyrule. I pulled my eyes from the canopy and ran my hands over the pillows, thinking about the last time that I was here on this bed. I let myself fall into a pit of grief.

"What is this place?"

I nearly hit my head on the canopy! The Fierce Deity was standing right by me. I had not heard him come into the room. My own personal gloom was outweighing any feelings coming from him. I did not answer him for my throat was choked up with held back cries.

Taking note of my silence, the Fierce Deity leaned against the wooden post of the bed and sternly looked down at me.

"I felt you standing outside of this room's door for a good fifteen minutes and the second you walked in, I was overwhelmed by your sadness." He crossed his arms. "I am curious as to why you're so melancholy. You've been like this since you got back from the castle."

"So, you _can_ feel my emotions?" I said, wanting to change the subject. The Fierce Deity closed his eyes and brushed my question aside by shrugging.

I let my finger trace an embroidered vine that was creeping up the side of the quilt. Wondering how to begin, I asked the Fierce Deity if he would sit.

"I prefer to stand," he replied. "Tell me of your sadness." I felt compassion from him, though he was not showing it outwardly.

"When I was a girl," I began, willing myself not to burst into tears. "This place was my summer home. My parents would let me stay the entire summer here. At night, my parents would come and stay here at the Manor. This was their room…" I paused, letting myself swallow a fresh sob that was threatening to release itself.

"Anyways, I grew up in this Manor, loving it more than my castle. During the first few weeks of winter, my father and I would stay here. It was just the two of us. We would sit by the fireplace in this room. He would take the chair over there and I would sit on the floor by the hearth. It was our special tradition. The years went on and the routine of coming here in the summer and winter stayed the same. Then one summer, right before I turned sixteen in the fall, my parents fell ill."

I grabbed a pillow and held it close to my chest. I needed to hold on to something while I told this part of my story.

"It was near the end of the summer. I was sleeping in my chamber, the one that I am in now, and I was awoken by the sound of servants running past my room. Something did not feel right. There was a tension in the air that disturbed me. I got out of my bed and opened the door. A servant rushed past my door and was headed to the flight of stairs at the end of the hall. Those stairs led to the floor of my parents' room. I ran after the servant.

It was a blur, the journey to their room. Outside of their door was gathered a whole rabble of servants. I saw my nurse, Moira. You have seen her, she was the woman we saw sleeping in the kitchen earlier today. Moira ran to me and told me that my parents had gotten very sick. I demanded to see them, but she declined, saying that the physician had not allowed letting anyone come in until he knew more about what ailed them.

For what seemed like hours we stood outside their door. Finally, the physician came out and sought me. He pulled Moira and me aside and told us that my parents were sick with a disease that he had only read about in medical textbooks. It was extremely rare, and highly fatal. He said that they were too weak to be moved to the castle, so he was going to have them taken down to the small infirmary of the Manor.

Stretchers were brought and my parents were put upon them. Servants lined the hallway as my parents were carried out of their room. I had seen them only a few hours before, and they looked healthy and happy then. But as I saw them lying on the stretcher, they looked gaunt and sickly as if they were already corpses.

My parents were strong, and they held on to life as all the physicians and healers in Hyrule worked like mad to try and nurse them back to health. For a few months, they lingered in the Manor's infirmary. I remained at the Manor, refusing to go back to the castle unless my parents came with me, healed and healthy, or I left alone to bury them. I never went back to my old room, but I stayed right here in this one. It was the last place that I had seen them healthy, and I wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as I could. As I lived here, I became as a ghost. My emotions were drained and I lost the joy of life. My parents were slowly dying and I felt as if I were dying as well.

The last warm days of summer turned into the coolness of fall. My sixteenth birthday came and went. In Hyrule, it is a right of passage to turn sixteen. It signifies a child's coming into adulthood. I did not celebrate my sixteenth year. I spent that day sitting by my mother and father's sides, reminiscing on birthdays of my past.

Then there came a day, a beautiful fall day where all the leaves surrounding the Manor had turned golden and scarlet and the sky was blue and the earth seemed at peace. That day my mother and father breathed their last breaths and gave their souls up to the goddesses. Their Kingdom had commemorated their passing by giving them one last beautiful day. I was by their bed when they fell into the final sleep.

Somehow, I managed to bring myself to this very room. I lay upon this bed and wept for them, into these pillows like a child. I was now alone in the world. There were no siblings to share in my grief. My mother and father's families were at the castle, sharing in their sadness together.

The High Councilman, Caldwell is his name, came into the room and laid his hand upon my shoulder. He asked me to stand. I could not. All I could manage to do was turn around and lay on my side and look up at him. It was here that I was declared the crowned, ruling monarch of Hyrule.

There was a funeral, a large and somber affair. My parents were greatly loved people. My small coronation was private. I was only moving from Princess to Ruling Princess. At twenty-three years, I shall be crowned Queen of Hyrule. I was not too excited about being Hyrule's Princess. I wanted time to grieve for my family, yet duty was greater than my personal needs. I spent my first year as Princess heavily relying on the Council to help me. When I was seventeen, I finally started to grow into the Ruler that I am now, but I still mourn for them. I vowed never to step foot into this place again. It held too many memories…too much sadness. The ghosts of the past haunt me here, and I cannot escape it. I came here to protect you, and my heart is paying for that sacrifice—"

I had to leave him. I ran out of the room with tears running down my face. The Fierce Deity felt mild surprise as I abruptly left him standing alone in that room. As I ran down the hallway with my weeping growing stronger, I felt his pity follow me.

**Moonlight clouds floated **across the sky. The Fierce Deity was standing in the fresh blanket of snow, staring up at the moon again. I did not see him, but I felt him.

My warm covers held me to my bed. He was imploring me to come outside and join him. I would have, but my heart was too filled with mourning.

The pillow where I lay my head was stained with tears and my head was throbbing from all the crying. My mother and father were not the only things I wept for. I cried because of Taran and the hard-heartedness that Caldwell had shown me today. I mourned for Link, my dear friend and my Hero. I cried for Midna and her anger at me, and how she blamed me for her love's fate. I even cried for the mysterious man standing in the snow. I cried because I knew that he had sorrows as well. I could feel that there was a deep story he kept secret and it pained him. I felt as much when he made himself vulnerable to me earlier in the day. When he had held my face and opened up his soul to me for those few seconds. I even cried because of my own confused feelings for him.

From his vigil outside, I felt the Fierce Deity tug at my soul, almost begging me to come outside with him. I turned in my bed and ignored his call.

It was my time to mourn. I was afflicted with my own grieving and I did not want it to stop. I lay in my bed and let my wounds of the past open again and again. Tomorrow I would pick up the pieces of my heart and tackle the issues of the present.

My tired mind drifted off to sleep and my dreams were surprisingly untroubled. I dreamt of the Fierce Deity. In my dream he was standing in my room. The door to my balcony was open and the cold air drifted in. I could feel compassion and pity coming from him. My face was still on the pillow and though I did not acknowledge him, my half-open eyes followed him as he pulled a nearby chair over to him. He dragged it to the bed, right next to me. The Fierce Deity sat in it and he leaned over me.

My skin tingled as he brushed my hair out of my face. Still pretending to be asleep, I let him sit there and caress me. A rumbling, soft whisper interrupted his gentle movements.

"Sorrow is not to be your lot in life, Zelda." I reveled in him saying my name. It was the first time he had said Zelda, though it was only in my dream. For a long while the dream stayed that way with him smoothing out my hair and brushing his fingers against my cheek. Eventually the dream changed into something boring and meaningless.

**I woke up feeling cold. **The door to my balcony was open. I pulled the covers tight around my body, wondering why the door was open. Then I remembered that the Fierce Deity had left it open during my dream. I looked to my right and my heart dropped to my knees.

There was a chair sitting right next to my bed, in the very same spot that the Fierce Deity sat in my dreams the night before. I realized that his comfort had not been a dream. When he said my name and stroked my hair, it had not been silly wishful thinking of my own imagination.

He had come on his own to comfort me. I smiled at the thought, and my stomach felt a little bit queer. I hugged my covers tight over my chest and wondered what sort of drama the Fierce Deity would bring today.

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Oh, the feels! Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review on your way out!


	9. Scholar

**You guys. I've had a REAALY rough week at work and I'm going to have a very busy, long, crazy weekend. I wanted to go ahead and post this chapter before the business began. Please enjoy this chapter! It was definitely a tough one to write, back in the day. Happy readying :)**

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**I felt like I had not rested in years. **My morning breakfast was the first food I had really eaten in three days. After waking and finding that the Fierce Deity came to comfort me in the night, I felt oddly relaxed and refreshed. Especially after the emotional turmoil of the past twenty-four hours, I felt as though my soul had been purged and I was ready to surmount any new challenge thrown at me.

Luckily for me, there were plenty of challenges ahead. One such obstacle was the mounting stack of official papers that were piling up on my desk in the Manor's office. I had requested that my work be done by correspondence, so all of my duties were sent to me via parchment. In light of recent events and distractions from my Princess work, there was quite a bit of parchment that was left unattended.

I sat at the chair, feeling strange for I normally worked at my own exquisite, feminine office in the Castle. This room was very manly, and it made me think that I should grab a cigar and a pint of ale to aid me while I worked. No matter, business was business.

My focus was weak. Part of me had guilt for not going out and trying to help the Fierce Deity break his curse, yet I knew that this work needed to be done. My fingers tapped on the page I was supposed to be reading. Perhaps I could ask Caldwell to take on the majority of the work while I attended to "personal issues." I would normally do it in a heartbeat, but I was not too fond of my High Councilman at the moment…

My consciousness reached out and I felt the Fierce Deity sitting in his room. What did he do in there, I wondered. My duties beckoned me back to working. It was not long until another menial thing caught my attention.

On the desk was an array of trinkets, but one stood out to me. It was a tiny music box that was another of my great grandmother's treasures.

At the Castle, there were all sorts of music boxes, just like this one, and each had a different song to them. During his quest in Hyrule, the Hero had learned different songs and played them on a now long-lost family treasure. The Ocarina of Time gave power to the songs the Hero played. As a gift for Zelda, the Hero had all the songs made into music boxes. My favorite was the one that played the soft, mellow Zelda's Lullaby. I would listen to it over and over again, something in my heart knowing that the melody was made just for me.

The strangest music box was sitting right in front of me. It was different from all the other music. The song was eerie and it struck a melancholy chord within the listener. It was powerful, though the tune was simple and deceptively calming. I would listen, entranced by the rising and falling of the notes until I realized how menacing and mysterious the charming song was. I felt like the song was lying to me, telling me that it was lovely but then behind the façade, it was dangerous and wanted to consume me.

It was called the Song of Healing. The Hero had learned it not in Hyrule, but in Termina.

I took the box in my hands and opened the small, wooden lid. Termina was determined to haunt me, it seemed. The small key on the side tempted me to turn it and let the music play. It was an internal struggle, wanting to hear the Song of Healing yet dreading to. Before I could commit myself to turning the key, I set the music box down and willed my mind to stay on my work.

My next distraction came in the form of stomping boots on wood floors. The Fierce Deity stood at the entrance to my office, waiting for me to acknowledge him.

I was _extremely_ focused on my work now! After what I knew he did last night, I was much too embarrassed to look up at him.

I felt the Fierce Deity become very annoyed with me, though I made the mistake of continuing to ignore him. The giant stormed over to the desk and his irritation rose to a boiling point. I looked up just in time to see him slam his hands on the desk. In one swift move, the Fierce Deity angrily swept everything off the desk.

Papers went sailing through the air. Glass shattered. Books thudded to the ground. Ink spattered on everything. I was somehow standing on my feet with my arms raised.

"WHAT DID YOU—I CAN'T—WHAT ARE—WHAT—WHY?" I babbled like an idiot, shocked senseless! The relaxed mood I was in seemed like a far away dream. My mouth gaped at the mess the office was in. In less than a minute with the Fierce Deity, my day had become eventful.

Calm and collected, the Fierce Deity stood with his arms crossed and his face the picture of tranquility.

"Now that I've got your attention," he smoothly said as though nothing at all had just happened. "We have business that we need to attend to."

"I WAS attending to business!" I yelled. My hands were starting to shake with anger. "What did you do that for?"

"You need to stop your work and help me with finding a way to break the curse!"

"We will! I was going to spend tomorrow doing just that!"

"TOMORROW?" He thundered.

"Yes tomorrow! I need to focus on my work because I am a Princess, in case you forgot that detail! I want Link back as much as you want your curse broken, but what difference will a day make?"

"We do not have time to waste! For Link, a day could mean life or death!"

The anger I felt dissipated. Fear gripped me. "What do you mean by that?" My fingers were clinging to the edge of the desk and my knuckles turned as white as the Fierce Deity's eyes.

"This mask is not meant to be worn forever! It is too powerful, too consuming of energy. It is a parasite, sucking away the life from the unfortunate soul who puts it on their face. After it has used up all the life it can take, then the body will die and I become a mask again. I only have control over this mortal body for so long, and I do not want to waste it playing Princess with you."

The room filled with heavy silence. Fierce Deity stared at me as the weight of what he told me sank in.

My legs could no longer hold me up. I fell back into the chair and stared at the wood desk, not really seeing it. "How long do we have until Link is in danger?"

"He was in danger from the very beginning, Princess," he replied sternly. "I can already tell that a great deal of his energy is used up. We have until the full moon wanes before his life is gone."

The moon was full a two nights ago! Already it had begun to wane. "How much time is that?"

The Fierce Deity walked over to the desk. He traced his finger over the knots and swirls in the wood. I could tell that he hesitant to answer.

"We have ten days until there is no moon," he finally replied.

"Ten days will be enough," I said with vain hope. "Is there no chance that you could let him take the mask off and then put it back on after he has recovered?"

"No. It does not work that way. The power of the mask would increase tenfold and our time to find a cure would be limited to hours instead of days."

I gasped. I felt naïve for foolishly believing that Link's life was not in danger, and that it was only a matter of a stubborn entity within a mask that kept Link under a spell. It dawned on me that this situation was much more precarious than I thought.

"How do you know all of this? Have other people worn your mask and died because of it?"

"Link and the young boy with the old Zelda were the only people to have ever worn my mask. I know this because I am cursed to be the spirit of the mask. I just know that this is the way it will work."

My life was much too complicated. I let my face fall into my hands, wishing that I had not even woken up this morning.

Two hands wrapped their fingers around my wrists and calmly pulled my hands away from my face. "Do you have any great ideas?" asked the voice of the Fierce Deity.

He was leaning over the desk and his face hovered just above mine. I could feel something similar to empathy coming from him.

"I have one hunch." I began. I felt excitement in Fierce Deity.

"Tell me," he said eagerly. His hands were still holding my wrists.

"I was going to suggest this for us to try tomorrow, but that was before I knew that we had limited time. There is a man that I know who considers himself to be a scholar. He is very intelligent and knowledgeable. Nobody else in Hyrule knows quite as much as he does. He likes to study unusual subjects, so he might have heard of Arkhaos in his studies. He even aided Link during his quest a few years ago. This man is very trustworthy, though he is young and a bit…eccentric."

The Fierce Deity raised his eyebrow and let go of my arms. "Eccentric?" he asked, now looking skeptical of my suggestion. "I do not deal well with 'eccentric.'"

I already figured that. "Well he may be our best choice, so you will have to be nice to him."

"I am always nice."

My eyes quickly roamed over the mess of ruined papers and nick-knacks that he flung off my desk in a fit of rage. He was always nice?

As if reading my thoughts, the Fierce Deity spoke again.

"I am always nice compared to what I can be. Do not forget that."

"Right," I said, not wanting to argue with him. What he said was probably true, though it did not make me feel any better. After his displays of destruction and temper, I could see that he was a volatile being and the "kindness" that he was showing was fighting against a much fiercer nature.

"Give me ten minutes and we will be on our way to see the scholar," I said. The Fierce Deity nodded and without a word, he left the room. I was alone in the office now.

I felt sick as I looked over the disarray that the Fierce Deity made. He was a burden, but it was one that I would willingly bear until the end.

I knelt down as the little music box caught my eye. It was sitting upright on the floor with the tiny lid flipped up as if it was patiently waiting to be played. Without hesitation, I picked it up and turned the key three times. Tiny gears began to turn. In the palm of my hand, the music box played the Song of Healing. The mystery and underlying menace of the song washed over me.

As I listened to the tune, I realized how much it reminded me of the Fierce Deity. He could show me kindness and patience. He might even act nice and playful to me, but none of that mattered. There was always something that he did to remind me of how dangerous he was. Even today, a layer of danger was added to the Fierce Deity. Link could be killed if the mask was not taken off his body. Nobody but the Fierce Deity could take the mask off, and there was no chance of that happening until the curse was broken.

Tears stung my eyes and I closed the music box. Only ten days until Link's life essence was gone. I had no time to waste.

**The snowfall was thick. **Fresh powder gathered around my feet as I stood in the stable yard of the Manor. I pulled the folds of my plain cloak tighter around me. At my side stood the Fierce Deity, draped in the biggest cloak I could find. His face was shadowed by the hood that he pulled over his head. The long cape fluttered as a gasp of wind blew snow flurries around him.

I prayed that he wouldn't draw too much attention to himself when we rode into Castle Town; the people would certainly notice a giant man clad in a black cloak. It was for this reason that I chose not to ride in a sleigh. We would take our own horses to blend in with the normal townsfolk. I pulled my own hood over my head. I did not want my people to recognize the girl with the strange man as their Princess.

A young stable hand led my gray mare out of the stall. I took her reins in my hand and petted her smooth, muscular neck. The Fierce Deity would ride his own mount. The man's head turned in the direction of the stable as dark brown horse was being drug out by four strong men.

At seventeen hands, the horse towered over the men leading him. Four muscular legs supported the stallion's wide, stocky girth. Silky tufts of white fur feathered over the heavy hooves. The horse was tossing his large, bony head and flashing the white of his eyes at the stable hands. This stallion had once been the pride of my father, who had bought the horse at a few years old in hopes to tame it. My father had not gotten very far into the training before he passed away. I had not the heart to sell him, so I let the horse stay at the Manor and remain wild.

Now it seemed as though he could be of use, possibly. He was the only horse that could carry the eight-foot man standing next to me.

"It's of no use, Princess!" cried one of the men tugging at the stallion's restraints. "He's too wild! We cannot put a bit in his mouth or a saddle upon his back!"

As if on cue, the horse reared onto his hind legs and kicked the air with powerful forelegs. An ear-shattering neigh split the air and men pulled back on the ropes as hard as they could.

I heard a swish and saw the hem of a cape sweep by me. The Fierce Deity was striding to where the men were struggling with the horse. He loudly ordered them to drop the ropes and go back to the stables.

Four pairs of eyes turned to me for permission. Curious, I nodded my approval. I wanted to see what the Fierce Deity would do.

The restraints were dropped and the stallion realized that he was free. He shook his thick neck and reared into the air again. The men scrambled back into the stables.

The Fierce Deity stood before the raging horse, not flinching as hooves pounded in the air, dangerously close to his face and throwing back his hood. Instead he raised his hand and stood still, waiting for something.

With a thunderous crash, the horse's forelegs fell back to the earth. Fierce Deity quickly placed his hand on the stallion's jaw. I felt the Fierce Deity smile, though I could not see it. An almost giddy feeling flooded my senses as the Fierce Deity made contact with the horse.

I watched as the horse instantly calmed itself. In a matter of seconds, the wild beast was pawing the snow and playfully tossing it's head. The Fierce Deity leaned into the stallion's neck and started whispering in his ear. My mare's ears twitched at the sound of his quiet voice and she neighed softly. The stallion's eyes grew droopy and relaxed and he hung his neck over the Fierce Deity's shoulder. The Fierce Deity embraced the horse and ran his hand over its neck. I could catch snippets of his still whispering voice, though I could not make out what he was saying.

My mare neighed loudly and broke away from my hold on her. Mesmerized, I watched her walk over to the Fierce Deity. She nuzzled his free shoulder, acting like she had known him since she was a foal. The Fierce Deity pulled away from the stallion and started affectionately petting her and whispering into her ear.

Who was this man, who had the ability to charm wild horses? The questions burned in my mind as the Fierce Deity stepped away from my mare. With a single jump, he was upon the bare back of the stallion. He used no reins to guide, but the horse walked over to me with my mare following close behind.

I stepped into the stirrup and hoisted myself onto the saddle. The Fierce Deity sat upon his mount, looking proud and happy. The stallion beneath him looked composed and compliant.

I looked at him and shook my head with mild disbelief. "Who are you?" I asked for the hundredth time, knowing full well that I would not get my answer.

He looked away from me and drew the hood over his face. Snowflakes fell onto his painted cheeks.

"I am the Fierce Deity," was all he said. Without a word, his horse took a few heavy footsteps and headed out of the stable yard. Without me even doing anything, my mare followed suit.

**The Town was barren. **Not a soul wandered the streets of the city. Snow battered down on us as we made our way through an older neighborhood. The houses sat closely together. At the very end of the row was a dilapidated structure, suggesting neglect from the owner. That was the house we needed to go to. I could not speak clearly through the heavy scarf that was covering my mouth from the chilly air, so I motioned to the Fierce Deity to stop. He turned his face on the house and I saw his red eyebrows shoot into his white hairline. The Fierce Deity's nose wrinkled in disapproval.

I could not help where we needed to go! I slid out of the saddle and tied my mare to the post. The Fierce Deity dismounted the stallion and quietly spoke into its ear. Obediently, the stallion walked over to my mare and stood next to her.

I trudged through the snowdrifts and knocked on the door. Paint was peeling off the rough surface and I was reminded of the house in the woods where we found the Fierce Deity's Mask.

A skinny maid answered my knocking. The wonderful smell of an afternoon lunch mingled with the scent of books wafted past her.

"Yes mam?" She asked.

I pulled down a corner my scarf to speak with her. "Is the Master at home?"

The maid nodded her head. "Yes mam! He just got finished with his lunch and now he's in the study, working on something."

I took a step inside, but the maid blocked my way.

"I'm sorry miss, but he asked that nobody disturb him. I cannot let you in for a few hours."

"Well I understand, but I'm afraid that he cannot refuse my company." I unwrapped my scarf and let my entire face be shown. Recognition flashed in her eyes and the skin of her cheeks turned red with embarrassment, then a dull shade of green.

"I'm—I'm—I'm sorry your Highness!" she said as she bowed repeatedly. "I could not see your face, so I had no idea that you were—please pardon me!"

I put my hood down and held out my hand to stop her from bowing a fifth time. "Think nothing of it! I was trying to conceal my face, so I am the one to be blamed for the misunderstanding," I said genially, trying to console her.

She straightened up and made room for me to step into the house. Fierce Deity, who had been lurking unseen behind me, followed me into the small entryway. He ducked his head under the doorframe and stood at his full height. The black cloak swirled around him and half of his face was still shadowed by the hood. He looked like an absolute nightmare. The poor maid's skin turned white as the snow outside and she backed into a nearby bookcase.

"This is my guest. He will be accompanying me to visit the Master." I informed her, knowing that nothing I said would wipe the terror off her face.

She nodded frantically, trying to keep what little composure she had left. I could tell that the Fierce Deity was amused by her reaction to him. He stared down at her with his blank eyes, using his towering height to scare her. Seeing that she was just getting more frightened, I jumped between them.

"Go tell him that the Princess and a…companion are here to see him, will you please?"

"Yes!" she squeaked. "I'll go warn him—INFORM him that you and—that—him—oh my!" Like a rabbit being chased by a dog, the girl left the entryway before she could complete a sentence.

I could hear the Fierce Deity chuckling darkly behind me.

"You were scaring her!" I accused, turning around to berate him. "And you were relishing in her fear! You are a monster!"

"Mortals were always frightened by me," he replied, mostly talking to himself. "I _am_ fearsome. I cannot help it."

"That may be, but these are MY mortals! Do not take pride in scaring them."

He smiled with his slyest smirk and sauntered over to me. His arm rested against the wall next to me and he leaned into it.

"Do I frighten you, oh great Princess of the frail mortals?"

"No," I half lied. I thought of him almost kissing me, how closely he always stood near me, and how his lips brushed my skin as he whispered into my ear. My heart thudded and my stomach dropped. That was the way he scared me…but he did not intimidate me as he did the maid.

"I know that you are only a big bully with a bad temper. You do not scare me. You just exasperate me with your constant mood swings." I thought back on him sitting next to my bed and stroking my face as I slept. Why could he not act like that all the time?

Fierce Deity's smirk split his face. "Oh, I think that I do scare you, you just do not want to admit exactly what you're afraid of…"

"How did you?..." I began to say, but my mouth slammed shut. I could not let him trick me into admitting anything! He was so devious! Yet how could he read my feelings so minutely?

The pitter-patter of delicate feet caught my attention. That would be the maid coming to take us to her Master. The Fierce Deity's ego was about the size of a mountain, so I turned away from him and silently let him know that the conversation was over.

"Princess?" called the voice of the maid from around the corner. I glared back at the Fierce Deity. He scared her so badly, she did not even want to be in his presence again!

"Yes," I called back.

"He knows that you're on your way to see him. Just go up the stairs and it's the first door on your left. I would take you myself, I just have…well something came up and I'm afraid that I have to get right to it!" A door slammed before I could say a word. The maid was gone.

"What a spineless lamb!" The Fierce Deity walked to me and stood by my side. "I was not that horrifying, was I?" His voice was full of sarcasm and pride. "I have not enjoyed myself that much in too long a time."

I crossed my arms in a pout, hardly believing that the highlight of this brute's life was scaring innocent maids.

"I cannot believe you," was all I said. I felt like an exasperated mother trying to reign in a rambunctious son. In a huff, I headed in the direction of the stairs. The Fierce Deity's ego deflated and all that was left was an aggravated troublemaker, fuming as he followed me.

The house was narrow and old, but it held a homely charm. The stairs creaked under our weight as we made our way up to the second floor.

The door to my left was wide open and a quirky young man was sitting at a cluttered desk. Strawberry hair fell over the forehead of a very concentrated face. Oval spectacles precariously dangled on the tip of a thin nose. The tip of the man's tongue peeped out of his lips as he vigorously attacked a piece of parchment with an ornate feather quill.

I gently rapped my fingers on the doorframe. "Shad?" I called, wondering if he even heard us coming up the rickety stairs.

Light blue eyes snapped from the page and a wide smile split Shad's face. I stepped into the room and walked over to his desk. Unsure if he wanted to follow, the Fierce Deity lagged behind me. The chair scraped against the floor as Shad hopped out of his seat and met me halfway.

"Well hello there, Princess Zelda!" said the young man. Shad picked up my hand and cordially kissed my fingers.

"It is so good to see you! How are you faring in this ghastly weather? I myself do not much prefer the snow and cold. Have you been to Ordon lately? How is the Mayor's daughter, Ilia?"

His pointed ears reddened. It was well known that Shad nursed an adorable affection for Ilia. Ever since the girl stayed in Kakariko Village during the Twilight Occupation, Shad had been taken with her.

"Ilia is doing well, I believe. I saw her a few days ago when I visited Ordon."

Shad beamed at me. "Very good! I would like to pay her a visit...and of course I would like to see the rest of the village! They are all good people." The man continued to ramble on, trying to cover up the obvious reason for wanting to travel all the way to Ordon.

"Well I am sure that you did not come to visit me and chat about Ilia and Ordon. Let me pull up a seat for you and—OH!"

Shad caught sight of something behind me and he stumbled back a few steps. I turned and saw that the Fierce Deity finally came into the office with me. He boldly strode over to where we were and stood toe-to-toe with Shad.

"This must be the, uh, companion that my maid mentioned. She was a little flustered, and I can…I can see why…" Shad's face paled and he nervously pushed his glasses further up his nose. The Fierce Deity was looming over Shad, looking him up and down with a critical air. His lip was turned up in a sneer and his eyebrow was raised.

Shad stuck out a shaky hand, in hopes to kindly introduce himself. I admired his attempt to be brave. The Fierce Deity only stared at Shad's hand, not even trying to be polite. Instead, he started to circle him like a hawk.

"This cannot possibly be the best you can do, Princess?" he asked. Standing as still as a statue, Shad's eyes followed the Fierce Deity..

"I assure you sir, that whatever you need, I will provide. Do not underestimate me! I may not look like much but I am quite formidable at book reading—"

"Formidable?" The Fierce Deity interrupted. He laughed sharply and tugged at the high collar on Shad's shirt, messing it up and making it crooked. "Oh yes, I am trembling with fear."

The smaller man's mouth gaped for a few seconds. I almost expected him to start bawling. I would not blame him! Ending his intimidating circling, the Fierce Deity stopped in front of Shad and pointed at the floor. "Good gods man, what is on your legs?"

Shad blushed harder than before and ashamedly looked at his feet. "They're my…stockings…" he admitted in a quiet voice. Everybody who thought of Shad always thought about two things; an exuberant love of books and colorful argyle socks worn under his knee-length trousers.

"Stockings?" scoffed the Fierce Deity. "You are a man, or has that slipped your mind? That is the only reason I can think of for why you dress like a woman."

"Do not listen to him!" I cut in before Fierce Deity could say anything else nasty. "He is just being mean."

Shad, looking hurt and confused, regained his composure and straightened out his collar, though he uneasily grasped for words to say.

"I do hope that you will still help us," I said, hopeful that Shad would be forgiving.

"Us? He needs my help too?" Shad gestured to the Fierce Deity, who was no longer saying anything but was still staring at Shad like a bug that needed to be squashed.

"Of course! I am your man for the job, Princess." He walked to his desk and pulled out a pair of spindly chairs. "Sit!" he said happily, all of Fierce Deity's teasing forgotten.

I obliged, but Fierce Deity refused the chair that was offered to him.

"Will you not sit?" Shad asked uncertainly.

"No. I prefer to stand, little man," he growled in reply.

Shad was not one to argue with that. He took his own seat behind the desk and shoved objects and papers around to make a space for us to talk over.

"Princess! Now tell me, what brings you and your…guest to my humble abode?"

I settled into my chair, not knowing how to begin.

"The man that came with me today calls himself the Fierce Deity," I started. Shad flicked his eyes at the Fierce Deity and waited for me to continue.

"He says that he comes from a land called Arkhaos, though I have not heard of such a place. Yesterday he had an…unsuccessful search through the Royal Library to find this land on the maps or in books."

"It is crucial that I find my way back to Arkhaos, and in a timely manner," cut in the Fierce Deity. "Tell us if you know of anything that could help us."

"Of course Sir!" Shad answered enthusiastically. I admired Shad for his quick forgiveness and genuine kindness in the face of blatant aggression.

"Though, I am not sure how much of a help I can be. I have never come across any such name as 'Arkhaos.' The language of that name seems very new and unusual to me. Arkhaos may be the name of an old, ancient land that no longer exists, though nothing in the history of the world indicates at such a country. I do not have the answers, but rest assured that I will be more than willing to help you find this place that you seek!"

"Arkhaos may not exist? That does not help me at all! Have I somehow been sent to a completely different world?" yelled the Fierce Deity. His temper was rising. "You have no answers! Coming to see you was a waste of our time!"

I felt his hand roughly grab my shoulder.

"Come! Grab your cloak. We are leaving." Demanded the angry man. "This little fool cannot help us."

I placed my hand upon his. He did not pull away from my touch.

"No," I said calmly. "Calm yourself. We are staying." The Fierce Deity glared at me with empty eyes, but I could feel him begrudgingly quell his temper.

"Do not give up hope just yet," I said, trying to console the both of us. "There is still so much more we could ask that could give us clues. Do not leave, please."

I turned to Shad, who was sitting behind the desk and watching the scene unfold.

"Is there nothing in any of the surrounding countries' histories that could give us any hint of Arkhaos?" I asked. If there was any person I could put my faith in, it was Shad. I just had a feeling that somehow seeing him would further our quest.

"I admit that all the histories of Hyrule's neighbors are well known. Each has been well documented and subjected to detailed study." Shad said. "All with the exception of Termina."

Of course, Termina would be the exception. Lately, everything pointed back to that strange land.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"What is Termina?" asked the Fierce Deity.

Shad looked surprised at his question.

"My, my you really aren't from around here are you?" Shad exclaimed as he pushed his glasses up his nose. The Fierce Deity just glowered, not saying anything.

"Termina is a rather, eh, peculiar land that is just east of Hyrule. A small forest separates the two lands. And to answer your question, Princess, Termina's history is the oldest by far, maybe even older than Hyrule's, yet it is the least thorough account. The oldest known information of Termina dates back to the beginnings of the Kingdom of Ikana."

"Ikana?…You cannot be serious." the Fierce Deity breathed, almost as silent as a whisper. I turned my gaze to him and saw that his face had reddened and he scowled furiously.

I was reminded of something Taran had bragged to me about yesterday.

"Do you know our Ambassador from Termina? Taran?" I asked Shad. Fierce Deity stiffened at the name of that man. Shad nodded.

"Taran the Terrible? Yes Princess, even in my scholarly circles he is known and not well liked. That man claims to be a descendant of Ikana royalty!"

"Yes," I said. "He made sure that I was completely aware of that."

"Taran said this? Surely that man is lying!" The Fierce Deity hissed vehemently.

"Oh he is absolutely serious!" Replied Shad, unaware of the Fierce Deity's foul demeanor. "Descendant indeed! There is no way for him to be telling the truth! The Ikana died out a thousand years ago, soon after their Kingdom fell."

"Tell me more of these people. I have heard them mentioned, but I hardly know what they are."

Shad leaned forward in his chair and I saw excitement dance over his features.

"The Ikana are terribly interesting to study, Princess. You see, they were the first known people to wield magic not of the Hylian goddesses. Every person born into the race had the gift of sorcery. The King and his family were always the most powerful of them all. The magic itself was dark and sinister in nature, which made the people a very wicked and indecent race. They let the magic control them, consume them and their hearts were corrupted and blackened."

At this, I heard the Fierce Deity mutter things like "swine" and "filth" under his breath. I glanced at him and his face was intensely angry. What did he have against the Ikana?

"After a few generations, the Ikana kingdom managed to rule almost the entire land of Termina by use of their powerful magic. The Zora, Gorons, and such other non-human folk were resistant to their unpleasant and tyrannical reign. Luckily, the Ikana Kingdom was short lived."

"After the demise of the Kingdom, their brand of magic died out as it was banned to practice. A democracy formed and the people lived in relative peace. What is curious about Termina's history though, is that the Ikana kingdom seems to have started the same time Hyrule did, yet evidence suggests that Termina was already an established country, leading many scholars and historians to believe that Termina was created long before Hyrule. This is an unpopular theory, as many arrogant, close-minded people like to think that Hyrule was the first country ever and the most important and so on. You know my own theories, Princess, as how Hyrule came to be and our ancestors being the Oocca—"

"Yes, friend, I know and I highly respect your thoughts," I interrupted as kindly as I could. "But what do you think? Do you believe that Termina has an older history than Hyrule?"

"Well, there are no records to tell what Termina was like before the Ikana kingdom. There are old fairy tales and myths that talk about the past, but none are useful scientific evidence to prove that there was life before the Ikana. Those theories are based on archeological discoveries of structures and items that precede the Ikanian era, the developed state of democracy and order in the land, and just the abrupt beginning of the history seems so out of place. When one reads Termanian history, it feels as though you are opening up a book and starting it at the middle. It just does not seem whole."

I patiently listened as Shad rambled on, hoping to catch a hint of something valuable to help us solve the whereabouts of Arkhaos. If only Fierce Deity would just tell me his entire past, then maybe we could speed up the process a bit.

"In any case, I do believe that Termina had a history before the Ikana, and I believe that it was dreadful. There is no other explanation for why there is no recorded history of Pre-Ikana Termina. It is my assumption that something so dreadful and traumatizing happened to the entire land, not a single person wanted it to be passed on to the new generation. The people started a new history, or rather picked up in the middle of the present era and went on as if nothing happened. I believe that the old past exists within the old fairy tales and myths that Termanians tell their children."

From behind me, I heard the Fierce Deity speak up. "I have a question. How does History these 'Ikana' come to be? What do the history books say about how they came by their dark magic?"

"That my friend, is a wonderful question! Nobody knows how they started, where they come from, and especially how the procured such magic. They just seemed to have made this kingdom out of nothing!"

The Fierce Deity did not like what Shad just told him. He was tapping on the back of my chair and I could feel that his anger towards the race was aroused.

"You are absolutely sure that they are gone? All Ikana bearers have died out?" He asked, still fuming.

"Y—yes, I believe so," Shad answered cautiously.

"Let us hope they are," the Fierce Deity muttered darkly.

I decided that I would ask Fierce Deity about his hatred for the Ikana when we were alone. However, there was one more thing that I was curious about.

"Among many things that Taran told me yesterday, he mentioned the 'Moon Disaster.' That isn't first I have heard about it. People say that it's a legend, but I don't really believe that. Can you shed some light onto what that may really be?"

Shad laughed, loudly. Fierce Deity growled under his breath and I felt his urge to strike the man in the jaw.

"Today is the day for difficult questions! Please forgive me, Princess Zelda, but you must think that I am the most unintelligent person in Hyrule for what I am about to tell you."

"I would never consider you to be less than one of the smartest people I know, Shad," I assured him.

"Thank you, you are too kind," he started. "I admit that there are only a few people who are willing to talk about the Moon Disaster. It is another event that I believe Termina is desperate to forget. All I know is that something of an apocalyptic nature did take place a century ago, and the people are very unwilling to talk about it. You would not believe how tight-lipped people get when you even say the word moon! It does strike me as interesting though, that the Hero of Old claims to have been in the land around the time of the Disaster."

The rampant beating of Fierce Deity's heart was pounding in my chest. I could feel him taking deep breaths to cool his exhilaration. Something Shad told him struck a chord! He was figuring something out, taking two steps ahead of me. I prayed that he would share with me what he was thinking.

"Tell me one more thing," he said, his voice touched with nerves. "I need you to tell me if you know anything about masks with powerful properties."

"Powerful properties?" asked Shad, looking slightly puzzled. "I do not personally know anything about magical masks, but once again I will point you in the direction of Termina. They highly regard masks, obsessively even. Festivals are held in their honor. It has always been this way, but we are not sure why. I think that it is because of a myth about two evil men being turned into masks or something, though that is only speculation."

Elated, though I was extremely confused, the Fierce Deity walked right over to Shad's desk.

"Odd little man with the womanly socks, you have helped me tremendously." Said the Fierce Deity. Shad smiled at the giant and I wondered if he was just oblivious to the fact that Fierce Deity's compliment was laced with an insult.

"Oh, very good" Shad looked pleased with himself. I stood out of my chair and stretched out my legs. I was confused as to exactly Shad had helped, but if it was good enough for the Fierce Deity, then it was good enough for me.

"Before I leave Shad, I would like to know how your research for the Oocca is coming."

Shad reached into a pile of paper and pulled out a small leather journal.

"Oh nothing groundbreaking, but I have established very good relations with the race. There is something interesting that I would like to share, now that you ask." He opened the journal and flipped to the middle.

"Here," he pointed to a spot on the page. Before I could see what I was supposed to read, the Fierce Deity grabbed the book out of Shad's hands.

With a speed that I did not know he was capable of, Shad ran around the desk. He lunged himself at the Fierce Deity.

"No, no, no! Do not touch that! That is very delicate journal you have in your hands! It is full of my life's research! Give it back," he frantically begged.

Without even looking up, the Fierce Deity held out his hand and Shad's small chest ran right into it.

"Hush, little man. I am only reading it," he said. "What is this writing? It feels so…familiar."

"What does it remind you of," I asked, momentarily forgetting the whimpering Shad being held back by Fierce Deity's hand.

"I am not sure yet," he answered. "I feel like I should know though…"

Shad was still panicking. "It is nothing from Arkhaos, I can assure you that! Give it back!"

Annoyed, the Fierce Deity closed the journal and shoved it into Shad. He caught it in his hands and held it protectively against his chest.

"Fine," he hissed. "Princess, come with me. We will leave this boy to play with his toys."

**The snowstorm was over. **A clear, bright sunset hung over the horizon. Our horses pranced through the powder. We were both silent, deep in our own thoughts. The visit with Shad had been interesting, though I was still not sure how it was helpful. The Fierce Deity knew, but he was not saying a word about it. I had asked him countless questions on our way back home, but I was only answered with silence.

I looked to the west and drank in the misty twilight sunset. As always, the dying sun filled me with bittersweet feelings. Midna came to mind and I wondered if she was ever coming back to Hyrule. I had nearly forgotten about her promise to return.

The Fierce Deity steered his horse close to mine. "You are melancholy," he said. "You have been glum all day. Is there something on your mind?"

"Besides trying to solve your problems?" I said. "Yes, I actually have another pressing matter…"

Taran. I had tried to push my forced engagement to the back of my mind but it kept coming back, uninvited, and reminding me that it was not going to disappear.

I was just going to say it.

"I am marrying Taran."

The Fierce Deity stared at me intensely for a few minutes. He was shocked silent for once!

"Why would you do something like that?" he asked.

"It is not by choice!" I defended. "It is something that has been declared by my council and I am afraid there is little I can do to change it."

"There is little you can do about it? So there is something you can do, but do you really want to change that?"

"Of course I do!" I argued. "I would do anything not to marry him!"

"Oh, you are so quick to defend yourself. Do I detect denial? Maybe you do want to marry him, you just do not want to admit it to yourself."

I pulled the reins and stopped my mare.

"What?" I said, my mood growing dark.

The Fierce Deity stopped his horse and looked back at me. He gave me a tight smile.

"Denial, Princess. You are in denial that you are attracted to tall, skinny old men that look like birds. You also seemed very friendly with 'Shad,' as you called him. Do you also fancy the short and pathetic type that like to dress similar to you? You have very strange taste in men."

Too appalled and furious to argue, I dug my heels into my mare and left the Fierce Deity by himself. I had no attraction to Taran, and definitely no feelings for Shad! The Fierce Deity though, I had feelings for him; very angry, hateful feelings. He was insufferable! I could not tolerate him any more that evening. All day he had been rude and mean and hurtful. For him to accuse me of wanting to be Taran's wife was the last test of my patience. I needed to be far away from him.

**The letter waiting for me at **the Manor did nothing to cheer up my mood. The Council had sent me a message declaring that I would meet with them tomorrow evening in a follow-up meeting about the marriage with Taran. The Ambassador had recovered from his terrifying ordeal and now he wanted to discuss the engagement with the Council and of course, with his "lovely intended," as he put it.

While I read, I felt the Fierce Deity enter the Manor. He had not been far behind me. I threw the letter into the fire and watched the red flames engulf the white paper.

Twilight had fallen and the sky was just starting to twinkle with stars. It was early, but I was ready to go to bed. I left the office and trudged up to my room. The moon was still low in the sky when I looked out of my balcony. I gazed up at the celestial object.

The cycle of the moon would count down Link's fate. I leaned my forehead against the frame of the door. In all the chaos and confusion of the past three days, I had nearly forgotten the entire reason for wanting to solve the mystery of Fierce Deity. He was so dominating of my thoughts and feelings that Link did not seem to even matter anymore. Only Fierce Deity mattered to me. I felt ill with guilt. I could not lose sight again of the real reason to help the Fierce Deity, especially after he had been such a terror.

Speaking of, I saw him walking across the lawn to take his place and watch the moon. He glanced back at me and I felt him beckon me to join him. A trellis covered in dead ivy ran against the wall. I could climb down that and join him. Though I was still angry with him, I felt compelled to answer his beckoning.

As a girl, I used that trellis many a time to escape my room and go for a night swim. I gingerly made my way down the wall and landed in the soft snow.

The Fierce Deity did not look back as I walked over to him. The moon loomed over us as we stood in silence. I wondered why he even wanted me there in the first place.

"We need to go to Termina," he said out of the blue.

Still looking up at the moon, I asked him why.

"Because, I feel like we need to," he answered.

"Does this have anything to do with what Shad told us?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me why?"

"No."

I crossed my arms and huffed.

"You do not like me very much right now, do you?" he said blandly.

"No, I don't think that I do."

When he stayed quiet, I decided that I could not hold in my emotions any longer.

"You are a brute. You keep your cryptic secrets and inform me of nothing. You expect me to help you with your issue, but how can I help you if I know absolutely nothing? Do not make such demands on me when you are not willing to help."

He was getting defensive, but I was not about to stop. Once the words left my mouth, they did not stop coming until I said my piece.

"Also, you are hateful to everyone you meet!" I said in a steadily rising voice. "You enjoy intimidating people and antagonizing them into fighting you. Like I said before, you are never consistent! You are mean, then nice, then mean, then nice, and then mean all over again! Especially today! You are a very special sort of mean today. Shad was only trying to help you, and you kept comparing him to a woman! And all that nonsense you pulled with me wanting to marry Taran was just unacceptable."

"Stop your wailing," he grunted. "I already told you that I am supposed to be like that. You just need to swallow your pride and accept it."

If I had the ability to breath fire, I would have.

"NO!" I yelled, acting so unlike my normally calm self. "I do not care for your flimsy excuses! I do not care if you were made that way, because I find that hard to believe. I think that you are showing weakness when you are hateful to others."

"WEAKNESS?" He thundered. "I AM NOT A WEAK BEING! HOW DARE YOU! LEAVE ME AT ONCE!"

I stood my ground. "Yes, you show a weakness and cover it up with vile behavior. I think that the more you hide your past from me, the more I believe that you are just a scared, weak soul that cannot deal with what happened. And the worst part is, I care. I care too much. I cannot explain why, but I feel very strongly for you and I have a desire to help you—"

Strong fingers tightly grabbed my face and Fierce Deity's eyes were piercing into mine.

"Curse you!" he growled between clenched teeth. "Curse you for caring about me!"

I tried to speak, but his hand covered my mouth.

"You are the weak one for caring! I would rather you hate me for what I have done to your life! It would make things MUCH less complicated!"

He shook me. "Yes! I am ashamed of my past! Every moment that I am alive, I make myself sick with shame from what I have done. I HATE what I became, what I still am!"

His fingers dug into my flesh and I began to panic for I could tell that his emotions were wildly escalating out of control.

"I want to free myself of the curse and never burden you with the story of my past! I can NEVER bring myself to tell you what I was! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY? YOU CARE TOO MUCH FOR ME! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST HATE ME?"

He roughly let me go and I tumbled down into the snow. The silver light of the moon shone down on him. His face was twisted into a glare, but I felt his heart aching for reasons I could not understand.

As I looked up at him, I thought the light was playing tricks on me. A streak of moisture glistened on his cheek, running from the corner of his blank eye and down to his jaw.

Shakily, I stood to my feet. He watched me with the ugly look still plastered on his face.

My trembling hand rose to wipe the single tear.

"It is true," I whispered. "I do care too much."

Fierce Deity did not break his stare.

"After all you have done to my friends, my home, and my subjects…after all you put me through, I want to hate you, it's just that…I cannot explain why..." I let my words die. My hand was almost touching his skin.

"… I cannot hate you."

His face relaxed and he closed his eyes. His hand slowly caught mine before I could touch his face. The Fierce Deity squeezed my hand and I felt him open up to me and say things that could not be spoken with words.

If only I could decipher what he was feeling. I felt rushes of sadness and anger, mingled with lonely emptiness. A scene of him taking me up in his arms and holding me tightly under the watchful moon came to my mind. I could not tell if that was my thought or his. I felt an array of very strong emotions he had for me, though they were confused and unclear.

Warm tears ran down my own face. The Fierce Deity opened his eyes and our connection broke. All that was left was the heaviness of what just took place.

I did not understand what he tried to tell me. A part of me was too scared to know. The Fierce Deity let go of my hand, reluctantly it seemed.

"Leave me," he whispered hoarsely. Shame clouded his emotions. His feelings were still like a raging storm.

I did not want to just turn around and run away. I wanted to stay and help him. I cared!

"Why did you even come with me?" I asked heatedly, suddenly remembering our first hostile exchange in the woods. "You don't like me or help me or tell me anything, but you came with me…why?" I was suddenly desperate to know.

He stayed silent, though I could see on his face that he had an answer. No longer was he scowling or frowning, but looking at me with soft compassion.

"Why did you decide to follow me?"

At my last question, the Fierce Deity took my shoulders and turned me around. With a gentle push, he urged me to go back to my room.

**I fell into my bed**, still stunned by what just happened. Of course I was still angry with him, but he was right and I spoke the truth. I cared far too much, and I could never hate him. Even as I lay in my bed and came up with every reason to despise the Fierce Deity, I felt angry but hatred was lost on me.

He was ashamed, and he wanted me to hate him. He said that I complicated things by caring too much. The Fierce Deity could not even bring himself to be honest about his past because he felt so much shame.

Jealousy. He also felt jealousy. Earlier, when he had been teasing me about wanting to marry Taran, I had taken it as him being purposefully mean. Yes, he had hurt me, but I was so quick to defend myself that I overlooked something vital.

He was jealous. He hated the thought of me being with Taran. How could I have been so stupid as to overlook an emotion as raw as jealousy?

I tossed and turned on the mattress. There were too many things to think about. The meeting with Taran and the Council seemed so menial compared to everything else.

A trip to Termina seemed to be in the cards now. For whatever wild reason the Fierce Deity had in his mind, we needed to go there. Something in Shad's conversation had sparked an idea, and I trusted that Fierce Deity knew what he was doing. He knew more than I did.

I trusted him, I really did. As foolish and stupid as it might have seemed, I completely trusted him. I thought of his tear reflecting the shine of the moon. How I wished he would have let me touch his face.

He was right. The Fierce Deity was absolutely right. I cared far too much for him. There was no reason for me to. It made no sense. Something inside me reached out for him, desired to know him and help him and care for him. I remembered my mother telling me that someday I would meet a man who would make me feel things I had never felt before, and that I would never be able to explain why I felt the way I did. That would be the man that I loved.

Feeling my own sort of shame, I pulled the covers over my head and screamed into the pillow. Why, oh why did I have to feel exactly that way for the Fierce Deity?

* * *

When I first wrote this chapter, I remember coming up with the conversation between Zelda and Shad to talk about the history of Termina and the Ikana was sooooooo hard! Everything was so tedious and had to be in such a specific order and I had to give certain things away and keep other things concealed. I definitely spent a lot of time lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about what was going to happen. When I thought of something good, I would pop up, type furiously for a few seconds, and then proceed to lay back on the floor and ponder. Oh what fun the writing process is. Anyways, I do like this chapter and I hope you do too. Fierce Deity was so fun to write when he was being mischievous. Don't forget to drop a review on your way out :) Have a great weekend!


	10. Sorcerer

**When I posted this story**

* * *

**My dreams were disturbing. **They started out normal enough. I found myself walking down the portrait hallway in the Castle. The bright moon shone through the windows, shedding pale light onto the gloomy paintings. As I walked past Zelda's portrait, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face the painting and I saw that Zelda had come to life within the frame.

She was leaning forward, silently summoning me to come closer to her. In dreams, unordinary things always seem normal, so I was not shocked to see an inanimate painting moving like a person. I obeyed her beckoning and stepped closer, close enough to touch the canvas. She smiled at me, though it seemed like a very cheerless smile to me.

I smiled back and placed my hand upon the frame. Zelda was holding a book in her hands. I had not noticed that before. With her arms outstretched, she leaned farther forward and tried to give the book to me. Unsure of how to take the book from her, I hesitantly reached up and put my hands to the canvas. I did not touch the wall, but rather my arms went through the frame and into the picture. The book was solid and heavy. Zelda smiled again and she slowly let go of the book. I brought it out of the portrait.

It was "Tales of Termina." Zelda had given me the old book of fairy stories. I flipped the cover over, expecting to see familiar tales, but all I saw were pictures.

I turned to the next page. It was the same; no letters, just a picture. Every page was of the same picture.

A mask, a heart shaped mask with two glowing, bulbous orange eyes. Yellow spines grew from its face and head. It was highly and garishly colored. I frantically turned every page, wishing to see something besides the troubling pair of eyes. That mask scared me, ten times worse than how the Fierce Deity's mask did. Something about it was evil and unsettling.

I looked back up at Zelda's portrait. She was no longer smiling but looking down at me with an anxious expression. Her eyebrows were pulled into a frown and her lips were downturned. I wanted to ask her why she had given me such a terrible book, but as I started to speak, the dream changed.

Zelda's eyes grew wide as she looked past me. She raised her hand and pointed to something behind me. I turned around. Nothing but empty blackness was there. I whipped around to the portrait, but the hallway had completely disappeared! She was gone. Everything around me was black as night. I was standing completely alone in the dark.

I had never felt so much raw fear in a dream. My heart was drumming and I could not breathe. I circled around in the emptiness, praying to see something comforting.

Nothing happened for a few tense moments. Then, like two stars, pinpoints of light glowed in the distance. They were growing bigger by the second. I dreaded them, for I could see that they were the eyes from the mask in my book. They were upon me before I had the chance to run away.

The entire mask materialized and hovered above me, not making a single sound. A scream stuck in my throat as long red tendrils slithered from the bottom of the mask. The mask swelled bigger and bigger, until it was an enormous thing. Like snakes, the tendrils wove through the air. I froze to the spot as the tips brushed against my skin. They felt dry and scaly. I retched at their touch.

Suddenly, the tendrils became taut and the mask started rapidly spinning. The tendrils slapped against my face. Finally my feet found their movement and through complete darkness, I ran away from the spinning mask as fast as I could. I felt like I was running through water. My legs were heavy and slow. I looked behind me just in time to see the mask swoop over my head. It rushed past me and stopped abruptly.

The dimensions of the mask warped. The tendrils disappeared and a pair of spindly legs and skinny arms burst from the body of the mask. A single, giant white eye grew from the top of the mask. It pivoted around on a thick, short neck.

The thing was no longer soundless. Instead it screamed like a maniac. I fell to my knees and covered my ears. My dream body could still not make a sound, though I felt a silent scream ripping my throat apart. The mask jerkily hopped on its legs and then darted to the left, and then to the right. It never stopped. It ran past me, striking me as it went. Then it paused in the middle of running and started a disjointed dance. The noises it made sounded like the disturbed laughing of a person who had lost their mind.

I watched the thing with terror. With a final screeching laugh, it threw its arms in the air. The muscles on the legs bulged and the arms shook. Right before my very eyes, the thing was changing again. It grew taller and thicker. The mask elongated and formed into a torso, connecting with the now thick legs and arms. The eye shook on its little neck, and it was no longer an eye. A head sat between two purple shards growing out of the shoulders. The face was adorned with the giant white eye in the very middle of the forehead. A pair of two-toned eyes were set below and they echoed the eyes of the mask, which were now on its chest. It had a gaping mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth. The thing snapped its arms and they became two long tendrils.

I found my voice and I screamed as I had never done before in my life, whether in a dream or not. This being before me was the ultimate nightmare.

As if mocking my terror, its mouth opened wider and out of it came a shrill, ear-shattering screech. The sound of it mingled with my own scream.

The thing waved its arms around and the tendrils cracked like giant whips. It ran towards me with deadly speed. I tried to flee into the darkness, but the tendrils caught my arms and flung me to the ground. I fell on my stomach as I felt the tendrils wrap around my body. Piercing cries filled the void. I rolled onto my back and screamed.

The thing was practically standing on top of me. I began to sob with earnest, begging for it to let me go. It only replied with an onslaught of murderous screams, sounding like a woman being stabbed.

The tendrils tightened around my body and I began to gasp for air. The thing was choking me! I took the deepest breath I could and I emptied my lungs with the loudest wail I could muster.

"MAJORA!" I screamed. "MAJORA!"

The darkness disappeared and so did the dreadful face of the creature that was holding me. I was lying on my back in the bed with the sheets tangled around me, much like the tendrils had been in my dream. I was still screaming loudly enough to wake the dead.

"MAJORA!" I yelled, still not fully aware that I was awake and in no real danger.

I thrashed around on the bed, trying to get the sheets off of me. I could still feel the tendrils on my skin, growing tighter and tighter.

I fell off the bed and landed painfully on the cold, hard floor. My chest was rapidly rising and falling and my breath was sharp. I could not get in a deep swallow of air. I still felt constricted. When I could finally get in a good breath, I let it out in cries of anguish. I grabbed my hair and wept loudly. I cried and screamed, unable to control the real terror and panic I still felt.

"Majora…Majora…" I said through tears.

"Majora…MAJORA!" I could not stop the word from erupting out of my mouth. I had to say it. My lips formed the distasteful name over and over, like a poisonous mantra. I had no idea what Majora was, but I had to say it. I just needed to say it. It meant something and it had to do with the nightmare.

I was not screaming anymore, just rocking back and forth on the floor and saying Majora. I felt like I just became unhinged. I was not a sane person anymore. Something in me had broken and I was a lunatic sitting on the stone cold ground.

Somebody opened my door and walked in. I did not look at who it was. My poor mind believed that it was the demon from my nightmare and I did not want to see it in my waking life.

It was no demon; it was the Fierce Deity.

I could feel nothing from him. My soul was filled with too much fear and terror to feel anything else.

"What are you screaming about?" he inquired loudly. He sounded legitimately concerned. "I heard you all the way from my room!"

Some small remnant of reality came back to me.

"I had a nightmare," was all I managed to say.

The Fierce Deity knelt beside me. "What did you dream?" he asked, his voice sounding compassionate and soft. "You are not acting like yourself."

"I can't…" my rocking grew faster. "I just can't…the mask tried to kill me…" My heart thudded and I felt a fresh wave of panic.

"It grew arms and legs and it tried to kill me! Majora! MAJORA!" I was bawling again. The Fierce Deity frowned, but he put his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

"A mask tried to kill you?" he asked calmly. I could only shake my head, trying to erase the memory of the nightmare. My nerves were somewhat going back to normal and I felt suddenly exhausted. The Fierce Deity's emotions were becoming clearer and I could dimly sense that he was deeply alarmed.

"I do not want to talk about it now, or ever. Go away." I demanded, hardly knowing what I was saying anymore.

I heard him laugh humorlessly. "You need to rest more, Princess."

"No! I will not go back to sleep! I will not have that dream again!" I argued back like a stubborn child.

I felt my body come off the ground. The Fierce Deity gathered me in his arms and was carrying me back to my bed. I fell on the sheets with a light thud.

"The moon is still in the sky. There is much of the night left. Go back to sleep," he insisted. I tried to sit up and get out of bed again. The Fierce Deity gently pushed me back down and drew the sheets and quilt over my body.

"I am afraid…" I whispered. "I do not want to sleep."

Warm hands gently encircled my trembling face. The Fierce Deity came close to me. My nerves calmed. I exhaled and felt all my terror and dread slip away.

His rich voice was tranquil and soothing. "You will have no more fearful dreams tonight, that I promise." The Fierce Deity leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. My eyes closed and I felt myself slipping into sleep.

"Be at peace Zelda," he murmured tenderly before I fell into an undisturbed, serene slumber.

**The morning was not so welcome. **What had taken place hours earlier was my first thought as soon as I woke up. I lay on my back and dreaded getting out of bed and having to deal with the aftermath.

I was mortified; yes it had been a terrifying nightmare, but did I really have to lose my wits and act like a raving lunatic? Every detail was clear as day. Embarrassed, I turned over and buried my face into the pillow.

The Fierce Deity had not only come in to see what was happening to me, he was the one to give me comfort and lull me back to sleep. I could not face him after that! Besides, there was the matter of our exchange from last night, before I even had my nightmare. What a bonding moment that had been!

I remembered my own emotionally charged admission of my feelings for him. I smothered my face deeper into the pillow and groaned in aggravation.

It made absolutely no sense for me to feel for him. I did not understand why my heart decided that the Fierce Deity was the one to steal it when my mind knew that it was clearly a terrible idea. He had no redeeming qualities that made him a respectable suitor. In fact, it was safe to say that he was the complete opposite of what was acceptable in a mate. We were a baseless match, him and I. He was a man of unknown origins and I was a young Princess of a kingdom handpicked by the goddesses.

Not to mention the small detail of him possessing Link's body. When Fierce Deity became free of his mysterious curse and Link was himself again, what would happen? Who would the Fierce Deity be? WHAT would he become? A spirit, a man, or a god?

Would he graciously, or ungraciously, thank me for my help and then vanish into the vast reaches of the kingdom, never to be found again or would he stay…with me? That would be highly unlikely, I told myself. He wanted me to hate him, so he probably hated me himself.

I thought about how he put his hands on my face and rested his forehead against mine. Every encounter that was fueled with uncertain emotion said that I could possibly be wrong. Perhaps he was just as confused about me as I was him? He could not really hate me. I only hoped not…

Yet if we could not find a cure, then Link's life would expire and his physical body would be no more use to the Fierce Deity. I would never let another Hylian suffer the mask, just so I could selfishly have a dysfunctional relationship with a moody, angry, secretive spirit of said mask.

There seemed to be no pleasant outcome for my hopelessly conflicted emotions. I turned over in my bed and kicked my covers off.

The goddesses would guide me. Their will would be done in all of this. I just prayed that I would not be heartbroken with foolish choices hanging over my head.

My feet touched the floor and I walked to a wardrobe to fetch a robe to wear over my nightgown. Aches ran through my legs. I pulled up the hem of my nightgown and saw that my knees were black and blue with bruises, evidence of falling out of my bed after the nightmare.

With a disgruntled sigh, I dropped my hem and snatched the nearest robe I could find. I stomped to the door. Just before I opened it, however, I made sure that the Fierce Deity was nowhere near where I would be going. I felt him walking around in the woods outside of the Manor.

"Fine, walk through the woods," I muttered. "Just please do not run away…"

I stepped out of my room and made my way to the Office. Keeping up with my still unfinished work seemed like a welcome distraction. Hopefully the Fierce Deity would leave me alone and refrain from throwing my desk across the room or something along those lines.

The Office was tidy and my desk had been put back together. The servants had neatly stacked my work on the desk. All of the unbroken trinkets were at their rightful places, including the Song of Healing music box. I sat in the chair and put the music box on a bookshelf behind me.

Minutes turned into hours as I fell into a steady rhythm of work. My mother always told me that a royal lady never walks out of her room in sleeping attire; I hardly cared for that rule today. Working in my nightgown was much more relaxing than sitting in a tight dress, especially when one had a less than restful night's sleep. For this reason, I was glad to be at the Manor and not my formal Office in the castle.

Gradually, the pile of parchment on my desk disappeared as the hours drifted by. I set my quill into the inkwell and stretched out my stiff arms. It was well after noon. The sun was high in the clear sky. There would be no chance of snow today.

My stomach felt weak with hunger. It was time to get dressed and start thinking about going to the castle. I had to meet with the Council and my beloved fiancée to talk about the upcoming marriage. Though I knew of no way to undermine the Overrule, I was going to try and convince the Council that they were making a terrible mistake.

I got out of the chair and walked to the door, going through the small library on my way out.

Suddenly, I remembered something from my nightmare. I gasped and ran to the table near the window. A few days before, I stood here with the Fierce Deity while he looked through books to search for answers that he never found. One of the books he had inquired about was "Tales of Termina," the book that the old Zelda handed to me in my nightmare.

There it was, sitting innocently on the table. I hesitantly reached for it, half expecting all the letters to be replaced with pictures of the disturbing mask. When I opened the pages and saw familiar stories on the paper, I felt a little silly.

I sifted through the pages, hoping to see an answer pop out of somewhere. Zelda wanted me to see something in this book. She came to life and handed it to me from her portrait. I just knew that she was trying to tell me something. As I looked, nothing stood out to me. The stories were just as normal and memorable as they always had been.

Finding nothing, I snapped the book shut and walked out of the library, bringing the book with me. During my lunch, I would sit down and read it more in depth. I would not cast off my dream. This book held some clue, and Zelda wanted me to know what it was.

"**Where have you been all morning?" **

My fork clattered to the plate with a clang. My heart thudded as I looked behind me and saw the Fierce Deity standing behind my chair. I was in the Dining Room, right in the middle of my lunch. My nose was in the "Tales of Termina" book and I had been completely absorbed in the stories, trying to glean any sign of something unusual.

He was calmer than I had ever felt him be. His hands were clasped behind his back and he was looking casually over my shoulder at the book next to my plate. I took in his placid demeanor and my mind ran wild with thoughts of last night, which did nothing to calm my sudden, frantically frayed nerves.

"I have been working all morning," I answered breathlessly. I was sure he could feel how nervous I was.

He did not reply with more than a simple nod of his head.

"Please, have a seat." I said.

"No thank you," he answered. He stepped around my chair and stood next to me. "I prefer to stand."

Very well. "Have you eaten," I asked.

"Yes," was all he said.

The large room echoed with uncomfortable silence. I picked up my fork and tapped it against the table. The Fierce Deity, poised and composed, stared down at me.

"I'm going to set up a trip to Termina—"

"What did you dream about—"

We both started speaking at the same time. I hastily shut my mouth.

"You first," the Fierce Deity encouraged me.

I took a quick breath. "I was going to say that, when I am at the castle today, I am going to set up a trip to Termina for us…that is if you still have the desire to go there."

"Yes," he answered a little too abruptly. "I need to go there."

I looked up at him, waiting for an explanation.

"It is my turn to ask you a question. What did you dream about last night?"

I relayed to him every horrendous detail of my nightmare; of Zelda giving me the book, the eerie mask morphing into a demonic creature, and how it tried to choke me to death. Chills ran down my spine as I relived the terrifying dream. As the Fierce Deity listened to me, he turned around and leaned against the table with his arms crossed. He stared at his feet and I felt his calm slowly break as fear and concern moved into his heart. I did not know what he feared, but I could tell that he was concerned for my well being.

When I finished, he did not say anything for a few minutes. He was lost in his own thoughts.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"I think it means that your great grandmother is trying to tell you something," he said. He was no longer completely calm, but very serious. The Fierce Deity picked up "Tales of Termina," and slid his finger along the spine of the book.

"I think she is trying to show you something in here," he mused aloud. "Somewhere in these pages are answers."

"I agree with you but, what about that mask and the monster? What did those things mean? And why did I keep saying…" I let my thoughts die. I did not dare speak the name that he hated, in fear of him going ballistic.

Yet I did not have to say it.

"Majora?" he spoke the name as if it did not mean a thing to him. "Why did you keep saying Majora?" I nodded yes.

"Princess, that creature you saw in your dreams…" there was a great hesitation. I could feel him mustering up the courage to speak that thought.

"Well I cannot tell you why you dreamed of it, or said that name but I will tell you that it makes me even more convicted to travel to Termina."

I wanted to ask him why, but he was not finished.

"Do you remember me telling you of the clan that I hated, whose language I spoke as I attacked that skinny man outside the library? You do? Good. I am starting to believe that there is a correlation between that clan and the Ikana, the race of people that the odd man with the socks told us about yesterday."

This surprised me! "What do you mean by that?"

"Majora, the thing that I hated, was the leader of that clan…of the Ikana."

I felt the Fierce Deity become very despondent, though he did not show it outwardly.

"I do not believe that Arkhaos exists at all anymore. I have been cursed as a mask for much, much longer than I realized. I do now know what became of Majora's clan or Arkhaos. It may be a shot in the dark, but I believe that, somehow, Termina and Arkhaos might be the same. Going to Termina might bring us answers."

I was in awe of how much he revealed to me. Questions were buzzing in my head.

"What of Taran, then?" I asked him. "He claims to be of the Ikana."

The Fierce Deity crossed his arms tighter and he sneered. "As much as it pains me to believe, I don't think he's lying about that. When I looked at him, I felt traces of the clan, traces of Majora. When I spoke the language, I saw understanding in his eyes. Then you told me that he spoke of Majora. He raises my suspicions. Something about him is not right. Do you know if he weilds magic?"

"I do not know," I admitted. "He has never shown any signs of it before."

"I am sure he does, Princess. He is just hiding it. Why are you marrying him anyways?"

"I do not want to. It is against my will that we are betrothed. I am trying to find a way to break the engagement altogether."

I explained to him about the Overrule and how the entire Council went against my judgment and warnings about the match.

"I am meeting with them this evening to talk things over and hopefully get them to repeal the Overrule. Surely they can see that this would be a terrible thing to have happen."

The Fierce Deity had uncrossed his arms and was now pacing back and forth behind my chair. His agitation was high and I could feel his pulse quicken.

"Things are not adding up. Fifteen men all unanimously agree on a destructive rule that their Princess refused? Your High Councilman acting in a way that he never has before? It makes no sense."

I stepped out of my chair and watched his pacing.

"What do you think?" I asked. He stopped pacing and walked right up to me. By now, I was used to him crowding my personal space. Really, I did not mind it at all.

He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them gently. "I think that this Taran is a more dangerous man than you realize." The Fierce Deity leaned down and his face was very close to mine.

"Let me come with you to the meeting today." He demanded gently.

"I cannot let you come," I said. "The Council has forbidden you entry to the Castle."

He smiled widely. "I would like to see them try and stop me," he laughed.

I raised my arms and put my hands up on his shoulders.

"We cannot afford anymore mishaps at the palace," I said. His tension relaxed under my touch, though I sensed he was still stubbornly intent on coming with me.

"Please promise me that you will stay here. For Link's sake, and for mine, please stay."

The Fierce Deity's smile faded and his brow furrowed. He stood up and my hands slid off his shoulders.

"I will not come," he gravely said. I felt relieved.

"I will not come unless I feel as though you are in danger."

I opened my mouth to object, but he shushed me.

"Do not argue with me," he chided quietly. "There is more to Taran than meets the eye." He picked up my hand and squeezed it. "If I feel any hint or sign of you in trouble, I will come to you, Zelda."

The Fierce Deity brought my hand to his face and lightly kissed the top of my hand. Quivers ran down to my toes and I knew that I was blushing.

Silently, he let go of my hand and departed from the dining room. I stood there with my emotions in turmoil. He did nothing to help me solve my conflicted feelings. If anything, he had just made them ten times worse.

**The Throne room was empty, **save for the long table that the Council was to sit at. I was the only person in the room so far. Everybody else was going to be there later, I had come early.

A cold gust of winter air blew through the open entrance of the throne room. The sun was low in the sky. Twilight would fall soon. For the tenth time, I wondered what in the world was keeping Midna away from Hyrule. I expected her to be back days ago.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled as I felt two people enter the room from a side door.

"Ahh, my lovely bride to be!" Sir Taran waltzed across the marble floor to my place at the entrance. He bowed low and snatched my hand in his. Kael gloomily followed behind his father. I forced a grimace off my face and out on a tight, mask-like smile instead.

"Sir Taran, it is good to see you that you have recovered from your ordeal," I replied, making no reference to his "bride to be" remark.

The tall man stepped close to me and folded both his hands over mine. I tried to take a step away from him, but my back hit a pillar behind me.

"Oh no, no, my dear. There is no more need to be so formal with me." He tightened his grip. "We are to be husband and wife soon. Taran is what you should call me."

I snuck a glance at Kael. He was pointedly looking up at the ceiling, trying not to watch his father act like a fool. Taran followed my gaze and he caught sight of his son.

"Kael!" he called sharply. "Do not ignore my bride! Come over here and greet your new mother."

The poor boy tore his eyes from the ceiling and shuffled obediently towards us. Taran had the audacity to call me Kael's "new mother." I was young enough to be his son's older sister!

Taran watched Kael with his sunken eyes. "Show some respect, boy. What did I tell you to say to her?"

Kael bowed to me and hung his head low. "Good evening…Mother," he greeted heavily.

This was too much. I extracted my hands from Taran's grasp and put my hands on Kael's arms.

"Look up at me," I said softly. The boy straightened from his bow and mortified green eyes looked at me. I remembered what he tried to say to me when his father lay unconscious on the ground. He had said, "you cannot…" before his nerve broke. I wondered more than once what he had tried to tell me.

"Yes…mother?" he asked. The word was clearly difficult for him to say.

"You do not have to call me 'Mother.' It would be disrespectful to your real Mother's memory to call me that when she was the woman who gave you life. Even if your father ordered you to say it, I ask that you just call me Princess."

Kael's eyes bore into mine and I saw small hints of a grateful smile. "Thank you, Princess." He mouthed.

A hand grabbed my shoulder.

"That is all very well," came the voice of Taran. He sounded more than a little aggravated. "Kael, will you leave us. Go stand out in the hallway. The grown ups need to talk."

Kael hung his head and practically ran from the room. Taran wheeled me around so that I was facing him once more. In that moment, I wished I were not a Princess so I could slap him across the face.

"You speak to your son like he is a dog," I said with as much composure as I could muster. "And do not EVER touch me with such force again. It will be the last things your hands will ever do," I warned.

Taran waved his hand with a flourish. "Excuse my hasty actions, dearest fiancé. As for my son, I do not wish to speak of Kael. As my future wife, we will have such discussions later on in our marriage. Right now, I would like to talk with you about something, before the Council arrives."

"Then speak your mind, Sir Taran."

He cringed at his formal title. "I asked that you not call me—"

"We do not have much time before the Council comes. Please, speak your mind."

"Indeed." he said, straightening out his vest. He looked a bit flustered by my uncharacteristic attitude. "I want to inquire about the beast of a man that attacked me. Who was he, and where is he now? The Council has informed me that you are protecting him from the punishment he is due."

I was taken aback. The Council had told him of matters that went on during an official, _private_ meeting? Fierce Deity's words of warning and his suspicions about Taran flashed through my mind. I quickly buried my surprise and acted as though I knew that the Council had told him.

"Oh yes." I replied, cool as ice. "He is hidden away in a place where he will not be a menace to the general population."

"That is very nice, my love, but do you know who and what he is? Has he been too much of a raving madman to sit down and have a calm, rational discussion with you?"

That was debatable, Taran. I was not sure if any conversation we had was to be called "rational." I was even less sure of what or who he was, but I could not let him know that.

"We have had plenty of informative talks," I remarked blandly. "Is there any useful knowledge on him that you could give me?"

If Taran balked at my question, he hid it well. He thoughtfully stroked his elegant beard and gave me doe eyes.

"Dearest, I am afraid that I know nothing other than him being a savage man who tried to choke me to death."

That was a lie. I knew that he had more knowledge about the Fierce Deity than what he was letting on. When I had listened in on him talking to Kael in the hospital bed, he seemed to know plenty of things that I did not. If the Fierce Deity was suspicious about him, then so was I.

His next question broke my thoughts.

"May I go to the place where you have him hidden and speak with him? Perhaps I could interrogate him?"

I stared at him, not wanting to say yes or no. A smile tried to form on my lips as I thought of how the Fierce Deity would react if I came home with Taran and his intentions to interrogate.

"That may not be a wise choice," I replied smoothly. "He is very violent and prone to fits of anger. You might not be safe if you were with him." That was not an outright lie. The Fierce Deity probably would tear Taran apart on sight.

"Oh come, come." Said Taran. "The Fierce Deity cannot be—"

Taran's panicked eyes betrayed his slip of the tongue. I smiled and coyly looked up at him.

"I never said what he was called, Sir Taran. How come you are calling him 'the Fierce Deity?' Have you lied to me? Do you really know something that you aren't willing to share?"

A side door to the right of the entrance opened and the Councilmen began pouring in. The meeting was about to begin. Taran, who looked relieved, watched as the fifteen members took their places at the table.

"Oh, my darling, we will certainly have a most riveting discussion this evening," he said. I could not help but feel as though a mild threat was woven into his words.

Without saying a thing, I walked away from him and headed to my seat at the throne. The Fierce Deity was right. Taran was keeping secrets.

The Council sat in their sets and Caldwell took his place at the far head of the table. Taran stood at the end that was near me.

"This Council has called a meeting to further discuss the future marital union between Sir Taran, Mayor of Termina, Ambassador of Termina and our very own Princess Zelda of Hyrule. This marriage is set to take place in two weeks' time-" Caldwell said. His voice sounded tired and strained. I again thought of Fierce Deity's warnings.

"Two weeks?" I interrupted. I was outraged!

"Princess, do you still have objections to the marriage?" asked Caldwell.

"You signed the Overrule. Will my opinion sway your decision in my favor?"

Caldwell shook his head. "Princess, we signed the Overrule because you were too stubborn to see how marrying Taran would help Hyrule. You were being a hindrance to progress. Our choice of the Overrule still stands. Now that you have had a while to think about it, what is your stance on the matter?"

"I am still against it," I declared in a loud voice. The Council shook their heads and Taran rubbed his temples.

"I have come here today to try and persuade the Council to think about this marriage and how devastating the effects of joining two independent countries will be."

Caldwell's face was turning scarlet. "Princess! We already told you that there is absolutely NO WAY to repeal the Overrule!"

"I am more than aware of that, sir, but I want you to listen to reason."

A councilman stood to his feet. "Princess, you are the one who needs to listen to reason! If you father was alive, he would be appalled by your pig-headed behavior."

This meeting was quickly escalating out of control. I rose to my feet, my anger rising at the mention of my father.

"How dare you call your Princess pig-headed! My father was a smart man and he would agree with me that the union of Termina and Hyrule is a terrible move!"

"Your father is not here to protect you!" screamed Caldwell. "Your father is not here to scare is into submission. If your father would have agreed with you, then he would be a fool as well!"

The other members murmured their agreement. An oily smile was plastered on Taran's face.

Another man stood up with Caldwell.

"It is high time you learned your place, Princess. You are not as good a ruler as you believe. We have been far too soft with you. What were we thinking, letting a sixteen your old girl rule an entire country? We should have married you off long ago."

"I agree with Sir Reeves," said Caldwell. "You are a woman, and you have proven yourself to be unfit to rule without a man by your side. In light of Taran's proposal, we think that it is time to fix the mistake we made when we crowned you ruling Princess and marry you to a man who not only can help you rule, but be the High King of both countries. Also, being a High King, you will be under his ruling. You will still have some power over Hyrule, but he has the final say for both countries. We have discussed the details with him in a meeting yesterday. We decided that it would not be practical to have you there, since you will be under his kingship and have no power over him."

I was smoldering. I was beyond furious. I had proven time and time again to be more than an adequate ruler. The same fifteen men who were condemning my womanhood were once the same men who had called me a prodigy of a child ruler. My father was probably turning in his grave. In his life, every man here had loved my father dearly. They mourned his death! Now they were calling him a fool?

Every last man on the Council had all sworn allegiance to me, and now they had turned against me. Never had they ONCE objected to me being a female. They had all looked forward to the day when I would turn twenty-three and be crowned as Queen. Hyrule had Queens and Princesses ruling before, why was it such a problem now?

"Does your loyalty lie with him now?" I hissed as I pointed to Taran. Caldwell and all the other Councilmen smiled.

"Is he a man?" asked Caldwell. I nodded yes.

"Then yes, Princess. Our loyalty lies with him. He will be our High King in two weeks, so naturally, we change our allegiance to accommodate him."

I stepped down from the dais that my throne was on. Taran caught my eye and I stormed over to him.

"Dearest?" he asked with a confused look on his face. I said nothing, but grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the table. Our backs were to the Council.

"What did you do to my Council?" I asked in a hushed voice. "How did you bribe them to be on your side?"

"I am not sure what you are saying," Taran said, poorly feigning innocence.

"My Council has gone mad! I do not even know the men that are sitting before me. They would NEVER change their loyalty from me, or from my father. Everything changed when you showed up. Now tell me, what did you do to get them in your good graces?"

Taran laughed and patted me on the cheek.

"What a silly girl!" he said in a loud voice. He turned away from me and walked back over to the table.

"Did you hear what the Princess just said? She thinks that I bribed you to get on my side. Ha!" Taran started laughing haughtily.

The Councilmen laughed with Taran.

"Oh Princess, you and your womanly paranoia!" Caldwell said between bursts of laughter. "No wonder you are not fit to rule! You are driven by emotions. Such a typical woman!"

I stood there with my mouth hanging open. This waking nightmare was far, far worse than the one conjured up in my dreams.

"Gentlemen! Prepare yourselves for a new era!" Taran was now addressing the Council. "In a fortnight, Hyrule and Termina will be as one country. The beloved Princess will be the Queen of a High King!"

The triumphant man turned to me. I was still horror-struck by the formidable turn of events my life was taking. A vision of the future blinded me. I saw my kingdom crumble at the hands of a tyrant, peace turned into war, and thousands of guiltless people would suffer the consequences of these men's actions.

"And the Fierce Deity that you are so carefully hiding from me, I will find him," he warned, a maniacal grin replacing his normally elegant facade.

"I will find him and he will be hanged on the highest tree in Termina. You know nothing about what he is. I can see it in your eyes!" His grin turned into an angry frown. "The man that calls himself the Fierce Deity does not deserve to live! Death is what he deserves!"

"NO! I will not stand for this!" I charged at the man. Magic formed in my hands. Taran would not take my throne. He would not take my kingdom. He would not kill the Fierce Deity, and he would not kill Link. It was time to take drastic action to stop this madman!

Yet as I rushed towards him, Taran calmly stepped out of my way. It was like he knew my steps before I took them. Without warning, he grabbed my wrist and swung me around so that my back was to the Council. The magic faded from my fingers. Taran roughly jerked me to his chest.

"Oh but you will, Princess. You will be my wife. It is time that you learn your place!"

I struggled to free myself of his offending grasp.

"Bow before me, woman! Bow before a man!" he jeered.

I ceased my struggling and I looked him in the eye with a serious clam.

"You are not worthy of a Throne. The title of King does not befit an arrogant fool. I will never bow to you, Taran."

His elegant face grew into a hideous grimace.

"Very well," he hissed. "If you will not submit willingly, then I have no choice but to make you." He let go of one of my arms and put his free hand on my forehead. There was a slight pressure on my skull as he forced me to my knees. My body gave in to his touch and a sensation of numbness tingled in my skin. I suddenly had a very faint desire to lose my own will and give in to Taran's every whim. My mind desperately tried to fight the sensation, but the more if fought, the more I wanted to succumb. Weakness ran through me. Something was taking place, and I was unable to do a thing about it.

I gazed up into Taran's mind, and seconds before my conscious gave in to him, I saw a change in his face. Taran's eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Alarm and fear was written all over his features. He quickly let go of me. His hand slid away from my face and I caught myself before I fell to the floor.

The numbness in my body was gone. My mind, briefly taken by Taran, was my own once more. I shakily stood up and turned to see what had caught Taran's attention.

Pure wrath hit me as a freezing gale swept through the Throne room. The Fierce Deity was here. Towering like a giant, the monstrous figure stood at the entrance, silhouetted against a blood red sunset. His body was cast in shadow by the brilliant light behind him.

Two pure white, glowing eyes stood out against the shadow over his face. Even the markings on his skin were glowing red and blue.

Wrathful, vengeful, enraged feelings of power and strength filled the air so strongly, I was sure that every person could feel his emotions. The wind blew strongly as he towered in the entry, his ominous presence overwhelming my senses. The Council started clamoring to escape the room.

The Fierce Deity raised his arm and clenched his fingers into a mighty fist. All fifteen men were all of a sudden frozen in their movement. Raising his fist higher, the Council was suspended in the air a few feet off the ground. Immobile, I could see Caldwell's eyes dart around the room as he helplessly dangled in the air.

The Fierce Deity took a step into the room. Torchlight illuminated his face. His eyes and the red and blue streaks on his skin were still glowing. The expression on his face was beyond anything I had ever seen. Furious did not describe the depths of what I saw in his features. He had not the feral, inhuman look when he first attacked Taran. It was a controlled, cold hate that he emanated. He was truly a fierce being. Though I was not to be a victim of the Fierce Deity, I was still petrified of him as he stormed to where Taran and I stood.

The Fierce Deity's pace quickened and he drew his sword from its sheath. Taran, who was frozen to the spot by Fierce Deity's power, silently screamed as the tip of the sword rested against the hollow of his neck.

"Servant of Majora!" bellowed the Fierce Deity. Even his voice was different. It was deeper, and had strength. Power rumbled within his tones and the floor shook.

"Please! Have—mercy!" Taran managed to croak.

The Fierce Deity leaned his tip harder against Taran's throat. Droplets of blood fell from the harmless wound. The man whimpered as his mortality seemed to grow shorter by the second.

"Mercy!" growled the voice of the Fierce Deity. "You release these men from their curse and then we will talk about mercy!"

"I do not—I do not know what you are—"

"DO NOT LIE TO ME, SORCERER!" The room trembled as the Fierce Deity's voice grew louder. "YOU WEILD A TERRIBLE, EVIL MAGIC AND YOU DESERVE A DEATH WITHOUT HONOR"

With a twist of his wrist, the power binding Taran was lifted. At the same time, the side door opened and Kael ran into the room. He gasped at the sight of the Fierce Deity.

White, luminescent eyes bore into him, though Kael did not shrink under the Fierce Deity's spell. Taran tried to make a run to his son, but the Fierce Deity pushed him back with the blunt side of his sword.

"Do not run to your son. You will duel me and prove your sorcery, Servant of Majora."

"I cannot use magic! I do not know of this Majora—"

"LIAR!"

Taran flew into the air and was slammed into the high ceiling. His body limply hung in the air before the Fierce Deity hurled him against one of the massive stone pillars guarding the entrance. The Fierce Deity calmly walked to where his prey lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"You can fight back!" He taunted. "Use your sorcery!"

Giant cracks, like veins appeared in the stone pillar. Chunks of marble, the size of a carriage began crashing to the floor. Taran looked up at the falling stone and scrambled out of the way. The Fierce Deity stopped the falling stone in midair. The stone picked up speed and started chasing Taran around the room.

"You can use your magic to stop these stones from killing you!" Yelled the Fierce Deity. The Council watched with silent looks of horror on their faces.

With a rush of sound, the stones hovered above Taran and fell into the marble floor. Dust thickened the air.

"COWARD!" I heard the Fierce Deity scream. "SHOW ME YOUR MAGIC!"

The dust suddenly disappeared as the Fierce Deity threw his hands behind him, the contaminated air following the movement of his arms.

I spotted Taran crawling away from the wreckage. Somehow, he had missed getting crushed by the boulders. He did not get far. His spine snapped back and he was lifted to his knees. The Fierce Deity's fingers were outstretched, manipulating Taran's body with power. Taran screamed in pain. He walked over to the agonized man. Fierce Deity grabbed a fistful of Taran's perfectly groomed hair and yanked his head back. Their noses almost touched as the Fierce Deity leaned in close.

His mouth opened and out of it came the language of Majora. Taran's eyes bulged with terror at the unknown words the Fierce Deity was saying to him. Only they knew what was being said. By the looks on both Taran and Fierce Deity's faces, I could imagine that it was unfit for any ears but their own.

When he was finished, the Fierce Deity let go of Taran's hair. He took his sword in both hands and poised it over his shoulder, ready to strike.

"You will die a coward," the Fierce Deity said with morbid reverence.

The air hissed as the blade swung through the air in a graceful arc. I realized too late that this was going to be an execution. Seconds ticked by slowly as the sword closed the gap of air between it and Taran's neck. The sharp edge was millimeters way from slicing into Taran's flesh. The man closed his eyes and I saw his mouth form a few words.

The blade made no contact as Taran suddenly vanished. Fierce Deity's arm over swung and he stumbled forward.

I heard the shocked voices of the Council, still suspended by Fierce Deity. Kael did not look shocked or surprised. Instead, he looked downright frightened.

"What has happened?" I yelled.

"You show yourself before death is upon you…" Fierce Deity murmured angrily. His face showed his disappointment and anger at his prize being taken from him.

"Fierce Deity, what happened to Taran? Did he survive?" I ran over to him. His sword still in his hands, he looked down upon me.

"He used his sorcery to escape, Zelda. Taran is gone, and still alive." Fierce Deity gently pushed me aside and walked over to the Council. He lifted his hand and they all fell back to the ground.

"He is innocent!" choked out Caldwell. "Taran is an innocent man! He has no—"

The Fierce Deity calmly put his hand on Caldwell's forehead.

"You know not what you say," he replied with pity. "You are under a curse."

With that, the Fierce Deity yet again began to speak in another language, though this one was different from Majora's tongue. It was the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. It was almost like a song, the way the timbre of the Fierce Deity's voice rose and fell. The soft, melodic vowels and consonants flowed together like water. A peaceful feeling ran through me as I listened to him speak. I mourned not being able to understand what he was saying.

A soft glow emitted from the Fierce Deity's hand and Caldwell fell to the floor.

"You are free of your curse," said The Fierce Deity. He gestured for me to come over.

I knelt by my High Councilman's side. His eyes opened and he looked up at me.

"P-Princess?" he muttered. Caldwell sat up and his eyes were full of tears.

"Taran! He put me under a curse. I do not remember how or when, but all I knew was that I needed to obey Taran." He shook his head as the memories came back to him.

"I remember talking about the intruder in the library, and that felt normal, but all of a sudden I was ordering you to MARRY Taran! I pulled out a piece of parchment and before I knew it, all the Councilmen were signing an Overrule to make you marry him."

A haunted look overcame him. "Then I was following every order he gave me. We made plans for him to become King! Then you came and…" his voice grew thick with emotion.

"We insulted you for being a woman. We called you unfit to rule. Those things that I said, that we all said did not come from us. The mind of Taran willed us to tell those horrendous lies. And all the while, in the back of my mind, I knew that I was cursed. I was aware that he was forcing me…" Caldwell tenderly picked up my hand in his.

"You may not know this, Princess, but after your father died, I thought of you as my own daughter. I would have never forced you to marry a man, especially Taran. You are the most capable ruler Hyrule could ask for. I cannot express my shame and regret and what I have done to you."

I felt my own throat too constricted with tears to answer. Caldwell thought of me as his own daughter? Yet I was still too hurt by his actions to believe him entirely. I looked up at Fierce Deity, who sensed my doubt.

"Believe what he says, Zelda. He speaks the truth. A curse bound him, but now he is free. Majora's magic will never harm him again." The Fierce Deity turned away from us and walked to the next Councilman.

One by one, my Council was freed from their curse. All of them came forward with the same story; they were all acting under Taran's will.

"What I want to know," said one of my Councilmen "is how we got cursed in the first place. I for one cannot remember how it even happened."

"Yes, I agree with you Sir McNiece," said Caldwell. He had been following me as I had observed the Fierce Deity work his power to break the Council's curse. Though I was still suspicious, I would forgive him. It would take some time to mend from the ordeal we had been put through.

"I remember being in the Throne room, waiting for Princess Zelda to arrive. The next thing I remember is us talking about that man right over there." Caldwell pointed to the Fierce Deity, who was standing stoically by my Throne. "It is like waking from a dream. I did not even feel Taran's will guiding me until we started on the marriage topic."

"Somehow, you all were cursed before I arrived in the Throne room."

I felt a tugging at my elbow. Kael, who had been quietly standing in a corner this entire time, was pulling at the fabric of my sleeve like a little child.

"I have something to admit, Princess," he said with fear in his eyes.

"What is it Kael?" I said gently, trying to calm him.

"Please forgive me," he begged, clasping his hands together. Sweat beaded on his temples.

"What is the boy saying?" asked Caldwell. "Isn't that Taran's boy?"

With a bravery that even his father should have been proud of, Kael boldly stepped forward and stood next to me in front of the Council's table.

"I cannot use magic like my father can, but he can use me as a channel for his sorcery." His voice quivered. "On the day that my father asked Princess Zelda to marry him, he had instructed me to be a channel for him when the time was right. My father opened the channel and told me to only act right before the Princess was to meet with the Council. He kind of knew that she would refuse his proposal, so he had this plan to curse the Council and force them to make the Princess marry him. After my father was attacked, they took him to the hospital wing and I heard a rumor that the Council was going to meet."

Kael's breathing became labored and color rose in his pale cheeks. "I knew that it was time to follow my father's orders. I went to the Throne room. All of you looked surprised to see me. You told me to leave the Throne room, it was for important adult business. I opened the channel and let my father's sorcery flow through me. You all fell to the ground. I got scared and I ran from the room."

His eyes reddened and tears rolled down his nose. "I never wanted to hurt anyone! I only wanted to please my father." Kael turned away from the Council and fell to his knees before me.

"Princess, please! Be merciful when you punish me! I am NOT like my father…"

"Kael," I said sternly. The boy looked up at me, expecting to be done away with on the spot.

"Stand up please," I asked. The boy stood up with shaking legs. I put my hand on his cheek.

"You are not in any trouble. You were only acting in obedience to your corrupted father. Answer me truthfully, by telling us this, are you renouncing your father? Can we trust you?"

Kael nodded. "Yes, Princess. You can trust me."

I smiled down at the boy. Away from the demeaning attitude of his father, he was a very brave young man.

"Can you tell us anything else that your father had planned?" I asked. The Council all echoed my question. Kael thought for a moment.

"Yes, actually. Princess, your life was in danger because he—" Kael was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

"He was going to—" more coughing. "Kill—" Kael doubled over with a spasm of deep coughs. Something shiny landed on the floor as he coughed. It was a patch of dark red blood.

Kael's coughing grew worse. Spatters of blood were all over his hands and mouth. I gripped his back and tried to get him to stand up. After a final, lung-shattering cough, the boy fell on the stained floor. His arms and legs flailed spastically as his body convulsed violently. His eyes rolled back in his head as foam oozed from the corner of his mouth.

Before I could scream for help, the Fierce Deity was beside me. His hands held the boy's head steady. Councilmen swarmed around us as Kael continued to suffer.

"**It is a curse that ails him." **

The Fierce Deity and I were standing in the hospital wing. Kael had mercifully stopped convulsion, though he had fallen into a deep sleep. He was physically alive, but his brain was in a catatonic state. Nothing would wake him.

For nearly an hour the Fierce Deity had stood by the bed with his hands on the boy's chest, murmuring in the beautiful language. Nothing had woken Kael up.

"A curse from his father?" I asked. The Fierce Deity slowly nodded yes.

"What kind of man curses their son to near death?" I exclaimed. My heart went out for the poor boy, suffering at the hands of his father.

"I do not know. Majora's magic will warp the mind of any decent person," replied Fierce Deity.

"There is nothing you can do? You helped the Council, why can you not help Kael?"

The Fierce Deity sighed and rubbed his weary eyes. "The magic that binds him is far stronger and more complex than the Council's curse. I am afraid that this spell will only be broken until Taran himself breaks it."

It was my turn to sigh. My fingers stroked Kael's jet-black hair. I wished that he had been able to tell us something before he had started coughing blood. I was sure that his father used the curse to silence him.

The exhausting day was catching up with me.

"Let us go back to the castle. The nurses here will do their best to take care of him."

**I could not sleep. **I tossed and turned in my bed for quite some time. The Fierce Deity was also restless; I could feel his agitation as he stood before the waning moon.

The thoughts of the day plagued me. There was so much to think about, I could not even begin. The plans for Termina had been set into motion before the disastrous meeting with the Council. It seemed like such a long time ago that the Fierce Deity and I had talked about needing to go to Termina.

I heard the clomping of boots on my balcony and a large shadow moved across my floor. The Fierce Deity was standing right outside. He rapped his fingers against the glass door.

"Come outside, Zelda," he said. My heart swelled at the sound of him saying my name. I jumped out of bed and grabbed a cloak. Just before I opened the door, I shoved my feet into a pair of boots.

The Fierce Deity greeted me by taking my hand.

"Come with me," he said. He let go of my hand and jumped from the balcony. I climbed down the terrace. He was waiting for me in the snow. The Fierce Deity once again grabbed my hand.

"Let us go to the edge of the water," he said. I felt excited tension in the air. The rocky shore of the lake was not far away. We trudged through the snow. The moon shone down on us, lighting the way down to the lake.

The winter was not yet cold enough to freeze the water, so tiny ripples lapped against the frosty edges of the shore.

I waited for the Fierce Deity to begin talking. His face was tipped up to the moon and his eyes were closed in bliss. I followed his actions and stared up at the moon. Already, a dark shadow was barely cast over the round edges. The moon was dying, and Link's life force was draining.

"I have been a stubborn, cowardly fool to not have told you this before," said the rich voice of the man beside me. I tore my eyes from the moon.

"What do you mean?"

The Fierce Deity sighed deeply and opened his eyes. He did not stop looking at the moon. I felt his nerves tighten. His heart thudded.

"Zelda," he began in a voice that was quiet and humble. "I am not proud of what I am about to tell you. I wish that I would never have to speak of this to a soul, but after today, you must know the truth. I pray that you will not think of me any differently."

My own heart skipped a beat and my breath hitched in my lungs.

"It is time for me to tell you of my past. I am the Fierce Deity, god of War, Deity of the Moon, and Sentinel of the Night Sky. My history is long and filled with bloodshed. I beg of you, hear my story."

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Ooooohhhhh man! We finally get to hear the FD's past! How crazy! Honestly, the next chapter is hands down my favorite chapter of the entire story. I can barely contain myself, I want to post it so badly! Gotta wait until next weekend though :) Hang in there, folks! Thanks to all who have faithfully followed this story. Please don't forget to review :)


	11. Soliloquy

**I couldn't wait until the weekend to post this. I am far too excited! Please enjoy this chapter and happy reading! **

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**Pure moonlight danced upon **Fierce Deity's features. With his face turned to the starry sky, he inhaled a breath of icy air.

"There were four gods, powerful and mighty beings who ruled a great expanse." He exhaled and the air turned misty.

"By their will, they created a world within the vast void. It was said to be the first mortal world of all creation, fashioned in the image of the Heavenly Realm where the four gods and their three sister goddesses resided."

Three sister goddesses? My mind briefly pondered this piece of dumbfounding information. Hyrule worshipped three goddesses; Nayru, Farore, and Din. From the beginning of time, humanity had worshipped the goddesses, never knowing where they came from or if they were the only sovereign beings to exist.

"The gods formed the heavens first," continued the Fierce Deity. I quickly brought my mind back to the conversation at hand.

"The moon is the most ancient thing in all of Arkhaos, for it was the very first of anything to be created. The luminescent heavenly body was the father of the sky. Stars and planets came after the moon, filling the dark firmament.

The sun was next. A blazing sphere of fire was placed into the atmosphere, shedding light on the barren wasteland that was yet to be filled with creation.

The gods turned their eyes to the where the light touched and then they created the earth. Mountains, valleys, and forests sprung forth from the fresh dirt.

The very last piece of the land to be made was the waters. The ocean erupted from great cracks in the foundation of the earth. Rivers flowed into deep, cool lakes.

The gods looked upon their creation with satisfaction, and they saw that this new world was perfect. Yet their plans were not complete. They returned to the heavens."

The Fierce Deity hushed his voice and the heaviness of the moment weighed on his heart.

"I was not born from the womb of a mother. Rather, I was created by the hands of my fathers. On the surface of the new moon, I was brought to life as the eldest son of the gods. I came to be not as a man but as a child, much like the boy you call Kael. Though my body was young, my mind was far beyond the intelligence of the most knowledgeable men.

As I took my first breath, I gazed upon the vast, starry heavens and I knew that they were created for me. A burning to which I could not put a name rose within me. I was already feeling the purpose for my creation. My fathers helped me to my feet and told me what I was.

I was their son, the first of their most important creations. I was the Deity of the Moon and Sentinel of the Night Sky that I saw before me. A sense of protection for the stars and planets came to me.

Yet that was nothing compared to what I felt for the moon. I felt an indescribable love for the rock on which I was standing. That was my first emotion; love for the moon. It was my home, my birthplace. I was created as the essence of the moon, the living spirit in the form of a god.

Not only was I to play these roles, I was also the god of War. That was the burning inside me. Ferocity was integrated into my soul. My fathers granted me extreme might and undefeatable strength. Power, terrible, awesome power ran through my newly created veins.

They told me that in years to come, I would be worshipped and mortals would pray to me for strength and bravery in battle. I would grant them blessings of safety and wisdom in tactics. To my most devout of followers, I would lend them a small portion of my power. I was meant as a highly respected god. My power was to be used honorably.

As I tapped into my power and might, I ignored the words of the four fathers. In a matter of moments, a change took place. My fresh mind, created as a god to serve those who would call on my strength to aid them in battle, became drunk with excitement and I warped my sense of purpose. Arrogance took the place of dutiful honor. I felt my raw power, my strength, my fierceness, and the title of 'god of war' took on a far different meaning than what my fathers intended.

Before I was able to use my power, the gods beckoned me to follow them and I obeyed. We journeyed to the other side of the earth and came to the new sun. Amidst the scorching surface, the gods created their next child. Before my eyes, the Deity of the Sun, a goddess in the likeness of a girl, sprung forth from the fire. Our fathers named her Helena. She was my sister."

A feeling of warmth and familiarity coursed through me. The Fierce Deity smiled as he reflected on the goddess named Helena.

"Helena was my counterpart, the goddess to aid me in ruling the sky. She was the very essence of the sun! Her hair was golden and her eyes were the color of amber.

I was the first thing she saw. Immediately our connection ran deep and I formed a silent bond with my sister in the first moments of her life. The fathers explained her duties to her, just as they explained mine to me.

Helena was the Deity of the Sun, as I was the Deity of the Moon, and she was to be the Sentinel of the Day Sky. She was also the goddess of Life, very opposite of my position as the god of War. Helena listened intently as our fathers told her that she was to bring life to the earth. All flora and fauna was hers to give life and after the gods created humanity, she was to give them life in the ages to come. Though I had not yet spoken to her, I was proud of my sister for the important role that she was given.

Our fathers told us to gather around them, for we were going to make the journey to the earth. Helena and I quickly found each other and we clasped hands. At the first physical contact I had with my sister, I knew that I found a close companion in her. Perhaps it was because we were the first to be created, or because we were both deities of the sky was what gave us such an instantaneous connection. From that point on, until the last day I ever saw her, Helena and I were always close. She called me the 'Father of the Moon' and I called her the 'Mother of the Sun.' My sister was the one thing outside of the moon that I truly loved."

I was selfishly jealous of that. My arms crossed and I shifted uncomfortably. The Fierce Deity laughed quietly at my immature emotions.

"Keep your jealousy at bay, Zelda. She was my sister." The Fierce Deity wove his cold fingers through mine. Tingles ran down my spine and all the way to my toes. Taking a chance, I took a step closer to his side. His aura was inviting and warm. I stepped in a tiny bit closer, so close that I could almost wrap my arms around his body lean against him.

To my pleasant surprise, the Fierce Deity lifted his heavy arm and carefully draped it around my shoulders in a close embrace. I exhaled too quickly and drew in a gasp of cold air, stinging my lungs. Enveloped in his arm, the Fierce Deity pulled me to his side. I found that I was not shivering at all, not from cold or nervousness. My arm confidently wrapped around his waist and I held myself tightly against him. I leaned my head against the side of his chest and felt the rise and fall of his breathing. He held me gently as his hand stroked my arm.

We stood there in silence, both of us feeling surprised and content at whatever just happened between us. I could feel that, besides pushing aside a heap of conflicted emotions, he was quite pleased with himself. Only the goddesses knew what I was feeling; elation, giddiness, terror, and a bit of dizziness.

"Back to my story," continued the Fierce Deity in a voice that hinted of sheepishness. "Helena and I followed our fathers to the surface of the new world." He still held me against his side.

"I did not take to the surface of the world as I did to the sun and moon. The earth did not set well with me. It was beautiful and amazing, but my soul longed for the realm of the sky that I had left seconds before. Our fathers told Helena and I to stay silent and watch. The earth underneath us began to swell and tremble. A split in the grass appeared and from it came the third child. It was another son.

My brother climbed out of the soil. I did not connect to him like I did Helena. He was scrawny and very un-godlike. I found him to be strange and very different from Helena and I. The fathers told him that he was the Deity of the Earth and the god of Healing, and the Sentinel of the People. He was to be the 'people's god,' being like them in appearance and spirit. That is the reason for why he was so unlike the rest of us.

Asclepius was his unfortunate name. The gods yet again told us to gather around. My brother stood next to Helena and smiled widely at me. I backed away from him, feeling uncomfortable.

Asclepius was the most eccentric, bizarre being I will ever know. There is no way to really describe my younger brother. He always spoke in riddles and there was a perpetual smile on his face. My brother always made me feel uncomfortable with that stupid grin of his. He never tried to be our friend. He acted more like a distant mentor, always giving us advice that we felt we never needed.

The earth was his to roam. He lived liked a nomad, never staying in once place and living amongst the population. The people hardly worshipped him, for they saw him as one of their own. In fact, he did not even seem to care or know that he was a god, for he lived such a menial, humble life. Men learned to be healers from him, for he was the god of Healing. Even so, my brother was humble about that as well.

After a few centuries, he was not recognized as a god. The worship of him died out, so only his siblings knew of his existence. All who saw him thought that he was just another traveling hermit, healing people who were sick and dying.

One significant thing he did do was create music. He was known as the father of music, and many people worshipped him for that, but eventually that died out as well and people believed that music was created by the four father gods. Asclepius did not care about anything that had to do with being a god. I believe that he never wanted to be a deity. The father's made him love humanity too much for he really was the 'people's god.' Near the end of days, before the Final War, he got into the habit of collecting masks. He found them to be mysterious and poetic.

Yes, Asclepius was a very strange deity.

As you may have noticed, so far, there was a deity representing each element of the new universe created. I was for the night sky and the moon. Helena was for the sun and the day sky. Asclepius was for the earth. We all represented an attribute that the father gods thought was important for the new earth; war, life, and healing. There was one more element that needed to be represented by a deity.

The ocean. The fathers brought us to the shore of a great, azure ocean. Helena's sun shone down on us as we stood on the sandy beach. The waves crashed together and briny foam gathered at the edge of the shore.

We watched and a shape formed beneath the waves. With a gust of wind, a tall, slim figure rose from the water. It was another girl. Though we were all created as young men and women, this girl looked older and more physically mature than the rest of us. Her beauty was breath taking, and even I was a little shy to be in her presence.

She gracefully walked through the rough waves and stood upon the shore. Water dripped from long strands of black hair and she coolly gazed at us with ocean blue eyes. Though she was attractive, there was a sense something about her that I found ugly. She bothered me. The girl was too outwardly beautiful to be perfect. How right I was!

We were silent as she walked over to where we stood. The hackles of my neck rose as she came near. I had the urge to strangle her. As if she knew what I was feeling, her stare found me and her eyes narrowed into slits. Lips curled over perfectly white teeth and the girl grimaced at me like an animal. I glared back at the girl, not understanding the sudden rush of rage I felt for her. My reaction to her was the complete opposite of what it had been with Helena. I took her expression as an offense against me, and I hardened my heart. I did not like this new sister. There was something cruel in her eyes, something in her demeanor that fueled the burning fire I was created with."

Smoldering hatred burned inside the Fierce Deity. His grip on my arm grew rigid and tight.

"Majora was her name. The fathers began to tell her that she was the Deity of the Ocean. As they tried to describe to her what her duties would be, she turned from the gods and stared at the vast body of water behind her. The air became tense and still.

Out of nowhere, she opened her mouth and screamed. It was a blood curdling, ear-shattering screech that echoed over the waves. Helena covered her ears and fell to her knees in the sand. Asclepius only blankly stared at her, not moving a muscle. I rushed towards her. My hands were stretched out and I was going to try and choke her ivory neck to stop her horrendous screams. I hoped that I would kill her.

My fathers raised their hands and my movements were stopped. Majora's screams still split the air. They all grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around.

Her screams suddenly ceased and she clawed at the hands that held her. Majora began to protest. She did not want to be the deity of the ocean, she hated the ocean. She wanted to see it burn.

I thought that my new sister was an idiot. The ocean could not burn. It was water!

The gods subdued her and froze her movements. She had no choice, they said. The Water of the Earth was hers to protect. She was created for the ocean, and she would dutifully perform her tasks. Majora tried to scream once more, but the gods silenced her voice.

Then ror reasons I can never understand why, the gods then told her that she was also the goddess of Magic. When she heard this, Majora threw her arms and finally broke free from the gods. She stumbled backwards and the air whipped the wet strands of her black hair around her face. Wide ocean eyes stared back at us. I could see that she was very, very pleased at being the goddess of Magic. A smile broke on her pale-skinned face. With her wide eyes, pale skin, wet hair, and unnerving smile, she looked like a crazed demon.

Then she began to laugh. Her laughs were loud and sharp, growing more uncontrollable by the second. The gods turned to us and told us to return to our places of birth. I knew that they wanted to deal with this daughter alone.

From the very moment she was created, Majora was wild. I hated her from the start, but I shall expand more on her story later.

I found myself back on the moon, alone. Putting the scene with Majora in the back of my thoughts, I realized that I was now able to use my power. The fire in my soul returned with a vengeance. I breathed in deeply and I felt the strength of my might building. I wanted to test my power. Putting my hands on the rocky surface of the moon, I closed my eyes and a burst of something hot shot through my fingers. The ground beneath me grew as my power formed the flat plain I was at into a giant mountain. I was beyond elated. The mountain was only the beginning; I created a whole world for myself there on the moon. I fashioned it into what I thought it should be. I did not care what the fathers would think. This was my home, my moon, and I would do whatever I pleased with it.

I made mountains and valleys, copying the terrain my fathers formed on the earth. The very last thing I created was a palace, just for myself. It was nothing like the dungeon you call your castle. My home was far bigger, made of pure white marble and with open ceilings so that I could see my night sky.

As I stood back and looked at my handiwork, I was satisfied with my power, but it did not feel complete. I was only a young deity, standing on the brink of becoming a full-fledged, fearsome, all-powerful god. I suspected that the fathers had a few more things in store for my siblings and me before they would release our full power.

A short amount of time passed before our fathers called us to the earth. There I met with Helena, Asclepius, and a momentarily subdued Majora. The fathers told us that they were about to perform the most precious and valuable creation of all: Humanity.

The people were made in our image, though they were made to be mortal. I found them to be weak and uninteresting, though Helena loved them. Asclepius left us to go join the flock for which he was specifically created.

The fathers named this new place Arkhaos, the Empire of Might. Five days passed and Arkhaos settled into itself as the small population of people learned how to live. Asclepius and Helena and even Majora, aided them, though I stayed in my lunar kingdom, making plans for the future.

I respectively ignored humanity those first five days. Then without fair warning or further instruction, the gods returned to their realm when five days passed, leaving their children to govern the world alone.

With my fathers gone, the fullness of my power was realized. In an instant, I grew from a boy's body into the awesome god that they had created me to be. I felt unfathomable amounts of power, held back by the will of the fathers, finally break lose of its bonds. I was free to govern with my own will, without being under the watchful eyes of the four gods."

The Fierce Deity stopped to rest his voice. He sighed deeply and a somber expression darkened his face.

"There was peace, for a time. Helena happily settled into her role as the goddess of Life. Asclepius thrived with humanity and Majora gave magic to a select group of people and they fled to a place where there was no humanity. I made it a goal to keep a close watch on her and this so called 'magic' that she was given.

Under Helena, life in Arkhaos flourished. The population grew and filled the earth in a matter of a few centuries. Groups of people branched off and formed into kingdoms and clans all over the land. Many people began to worship us, and our power grew from our devout followers. Asclepius was happily living amongst his people, creating music and healing and whatever else he did.

Majora, on the other hand, was not attending to her duties in the slightest. The seas were constantly stormy. No ship could sail on the violent waters of the neglected Ocean. Majora could not have cared less about the waters for which she was made to love.

Instead, she found the driest, saddest, most godforsaken spit of earth in Arkhaos to call her home. A deep valley, guarded by craggy, steep cliffs, in the middle of a desolate mountain range was where she built her castle. Majora was as far away from the Ocean as she could be.

A large clan of people followed her, and that clan exiled themselves from the rest of the expanding world and kept the magic to themselves. I still kept a watchful vigil over Majora and her growing clan.

I however, bided my time. Yes, people worshipped me as the Deity of the Moon and that pleased me, but the burning for war inside me was too great.

I ached for the people of the earth to battle. There was too much peace for me to be happy. I could see that there was already dissention between a few of the great kingdoms, but nothing that would ignite the first war.

Being the young, foolish god that I was, I took matters into my own hands.

I stirred the hearts of the leaders into a frenzy. By my forceful urgings, they finally wanted war! There was no good reason for it to happen, I just wanted to stretch my power and rage into a battle.

Armies were formed, weapons were made, and men gnashed their teeth, waiting for bloodshed. It was all my doing, and I relished in the lust for war.

On the eve of battle, I came to the earth and sided with the Army I saw worthy to fight with. The people would see what a god of War could be!

It was forbidden for me to battle with the mortals, but I cared not for the rules that my fathers gave me. The carnage was great and many men lost their lives at my hand.

To destroy my fathers' creation was a terrible crime against humanity and the gods, but for me, the bloodshed was thrilling.

From then on, every new generation saw a great war. When things became too peaceful in Arkhaos, I would instigate the start of a war. In the heat of battle, I would join in the blood bath and fight alongside mortals.

It was in war that I became known as the 'Fierce Deity.' I was a sight to behold on the battlefield. My sword, as long as a man was tall, cut through spears and flesh. I would paint red and blue on my face, the colors representing something; blue for victory and red for the blood that was to be shed. The sky would darken at my arrival. The sound of my battle cry was louder than thunder. My chosen army would descend upon the enemy like a wave upon the helpless sand.

Men feared me as an enemy and they would beg to me in their prayers to aid them in battle, for I chose sides. Whichever side I chose was always victorious. I was glorified in ballads and stories. Entire kingdoms worshipped me, out of fear and respect, not for love like Helena's worshippers did.

If I was displeased with any of my earthly kingdoms, I would cause a war to happen. Another kingdom, stronger and more powerful would attack their land and that would be my punishment for them.

When I was bored or tired of peace, I would start a war for the fun of it. Slaying brave men was amusing to me, and when armies saw me in battle, the soldiers would take their own lives because the thought of dying at my hands was too unspeakable a death for them.

Helena chided me for abusing my role as the god of War. It was not meant to be that way, she always tried to remind me. I was to help them, not fight with them.

What use was my power if I was not to use it, I would argue. The gods made me with such strength and might. My heart was ferocious and unsettled. War and gore and violence and fighting burned within me. That was the fire that fueled my soul. The gods made a mistake in creating me with such a fiery heart. If they wanted me to be the passive, distant god, then they should have made me more peaceful. War was in my blood.

Helena was right, though. I was a flawed god, abusing my power and using it for my own glory. You remind me of her when you say that I am never constant. She had the same complaint.

I would tell her exactly what I tell you; I am like the moon, I am always changing and cycling through different phases. The fathers created me this way! Well, that is true to an extent, but I had no control over myself. I never thought control was something important to a god like me. Apparently I still have yet to master this control, but I do not really care to.

While all this war business was happening, something troubling was taking place in the background that would become a much greater issue.

Do you remember me talking about Majora's clan? Well, all of the four deities had their own respective races.

From the very beginning, Helena had people who loved her so deeply and devoutly, they wished to be her chosen ones. They created their own language for her, made temples in her honor, and called themselves the Sky People. Helena was moved by their love and she allowed the people to come be a part of her kingdom on the sun. Before long, Helena granted her followers immortality and they became her disciples. Her group of disciples grew over the centuries as the most devout of her mortal followers were granted immortality and came to live in the Sun Palace.

It sounded absurd to me. I would never share my moon with any mortal! I was far too selfish to care that much for the people who did not worship me as the god of War, but as the Deity of the Moon, my weaker power.

I preferred people to love me for my war mongering.

Yet, in the midst of me instigating a new war, I heard the prayer of a young boy asking to become a part of the moon. The prayers of children usually did not matter to me, but there was an innocence and purity to his voice that intrigued me.

I came to the earth and personally met with the boy. He was a sickly looking child, standing in the middle of a dying field of wheat under the light of a full moon.

When the boy saw me, he showed no fear, but asked me if I would make him turn into the moon. Curious, I asked the child what made him desire to be the moon. He told me that his entire family was dying from an incurable sickness and that only the moon had the power to heal them. If he became the moon, then he would have the power to make his family well again.

I was amazed at the boy's faith. If the moon did have healing powers, I was not aware of it, but I did not want to quell his faith in the moon, or his faith in me as the Deity of the Moon.

I did something I had never done before; I took pity on my people. The boy and his family were taken to the moon and there I healed them.

I will never forget what the child told me next. He said that he would always love the moon for healing his family, and he would always love me for being the kindest god of all.

I sent them back to the earth, wondering how many other faithful followers I had ignored over the centuries. The child called me a kind god, his innocence too great to realize that I was the very same god that purposely waged war over the land for my own personal satisfaction. I was moved by his love for me, but I did not waver from my war mongering.

Soon after that incident though, I started listening more to the people who worshipped me as the Deity of the Moon. There were only a small handful of those followers, the family of the boy included. I was hardly known for anything besides war.

I looked upon those people and saw that they were the poorest, most depraved people on the earth. Yet their faith in me never wavered. For whatever reason, they worshipped me with as much faith as the scores of people who worshipped Helena.

My hard heart was softened for them and I decided to release them from their harried existence on earth.

In my most humane act as a god, I took every last one of them to live in my kingdom on the moon.

Since I did not have the ability to give them immortality as Helena did, they became as a new race of people. Living, marrying, having children, and dying as my Lunar people.

Do you remember the language that I spoke when I freed your Council of their curse? That was the language of the moon. My Lunar race created this language in my honor. I taught my people how to practice the magic that I was given, and I did care for them deeply. Though I did not truly love them as I did myself, the moon, and Helena, I thought of them as my own children.

Can you see how stone hearted of a god I was? My very own race of people who loved me so dearly, despite my lust for battle and death, and I could not even bring myself to love them back for I was too proud and did not want to seem weak.

Majora, on the other hand stayed mostly quiet for the first few thousand years. The people who worshipped her started their own kingdom, settled in the mountains where she made her home. They called themselves the Suegs. Majora's language was made, and I secretly leaned it so I would not be at a disadvantage. If Majora thought she could keep me in the dark, she was wrong.

Though I hardly had a sense of morality, I saw that her worshippers were the worst of people. I would pitch a war against them every once in a while and try to wipe them off the face of the earth. The battles against Majora's kingdom were the bloodiest, most violent, and glorious of all.

I did not battle with her personally. Instead, I would come to her castle every so often and visit her, never to be cordial but to see what she was up too.

Majora was too calm, too quiet to stay out of my suspicions. Her people were violent, dark, and peculiar. They learned how to use magic from her. She was supposed to be the goddess of Magic and spread it to all four corners of the earth, but she hoarded it and only gave it to her people.

The wars I started with her people did not please her, to say the least. The hatred between us grew and she resented me for trying to decimate her worshippers. I resented her for existing in the first place.

In retaliation to my wars, she would spread a disease that only her magic could cure through the kingdoms that worshipped me as the War god.

We did that for far too many years; I would start a war for the fun of it and kill off most of the men in her kingdom's population, then she would curse my kingdoms and half of the people would die from her spells.

Helena begged me to stop toying with our sister and to have mercy on the innocent people who would die because of our rivalry. I would stop to appease her, but wait for a few centuries to pass before I sparked another war.

One day, Majora surprised me by asking if I would meet her by the Ocean. Wary of her intentions, I obliged and we met each other during the night, when I was at my most powerful.

Though she was unstable and mad, Majora was a beautiful goddess, even more beautiful than Helena. Mortal men would seek to be her lover, but they would always meet the same unpleasant end if they dared to ask.

We met on the very same beach where she had been born. The moonlight illuminated her face and I saw that her beauty had diminished. She was not the same cold, striking goddess that I remembered.

Her porcelain skin was saggy and the whites of her eyes were red. Long, greasy strands of hair replaced the full, glorious curls she once boasted of. Patches of scalp showed where her hair had fallen out. She was skin and bones with not an ounce of fat on her body.

I was disgusted at the sight of her. Why had she called to see me, I asked her. Majora smiled with yellow, pointed teeth and she told me that she wanted to tell me something very important.

A feather drifted by us, carried on the wind. Majora's bony fingers snatched the feather out of the air. Her eyes stared at the object in her hands and she stroked it, almost lovingly.

Majora began to tell me that she was more powerful than I was, for she created magic. I scoffed at her, saying that she was born with magic, so of course she 'made magic.'

I was wrong. Majora said that she broke free of the tame, gifted magic of the gods and she created her own brand of sorcery. Her new magic was unlimited by the gods. She called it…she called it Ikana…"

The Fierce Deity broke away from his story as I gasped and leaned my forehead into my free hand.

"That was the name of Majora's Magic? The kingdom that Taran descended from, the magical race that tried to rule Termina, has the same name as Majora's Magic!" I cried.

He sighed mightily and closed his eyes.

"Yes, Zelda. I believe that it is no coincidence that Taran is connected to the Ikana. Shad has no notion of what Ikana truly is and what kind of terrible power that Taran might wield. It troubles me, but I have more to tell you."

"What happens next?" I breathed. I was awed by the coincidence of the names, but I was also too enthralled by the story to think on it now.

"What happens next is the turning point of my life. When Majora said the name of her Magic, the feather she was holding caught on fire. She smiled at the tiny flame, letting it burn her fingers. Then, Majora looked from the feather to the Ocean and she threw it into the water. Instead of being smothered, the fire erupted and the entire body of water was engulfed in flames.

I jumped back in horror, though Majora broke out into shrill laughter. Watch the Ocean burn, she screamed.

I used my power to pull the water, as the moon would pull a tide onto shore, and I tried to put out the flames. Majora stepped into the fiery water and she stared at me with a hateful glare.

'Watch the Ocean burn,' she said again with pure malice in her voice. 'You cannot stop my fire.'

She snapped her fingers and disappeared into the flames. For hours I tried to extinguish the fire, though the inferno blazed worse the more I tried to put it out.

My hatred for my sister grew, and I was absolutely livid. How dare she call herself more powerful than I!

Yet, as I tried to get rid of the fire she started, I realized that because of this new Magic, this Ikana, she had become more powerful than me. I was limited in my power, compared to her. I could only do what the gods had given me power to do. Majora had the unfair advantage of being the goddess of Magic and somehow she used this god given magic to make her own. This made her limitless in power. She was a threat to my regime as the greatest of all the Deities and a rival to my power.

I vowed to destroy her, when the time was right.

A century passed before I saw her again. In that time, she taught all of her people the Ikana. She became known as the Mogra D'Ikana, which meant 'Mother of Ikana' in her language.

Her people turned from relatively normal to mad, raving lunatic sorcerers. The things that they did were vile and disgusting, as was the magic they practiced. They lost their humanity as they learned Ikana. Their minds were twisted and sadistic, reflecting the evil of Majora's Magic.

The Suegs wreaked havoc on Arkhaos, doing more damage to the world than I did with my wars. They attacked and killed people that worshipped not only me, but Helena as well. Asclepius had already vanished from lore by this point. Nobody knew of him anymore.

Majora herself started showing the extent of her madness. I heard rumors that her appearance had changed from the once beautiful goddess to that of a monster. She was no longer female, but she was not a male. Majora was so changed by her own magic that she no longer had a gender. She was just a horrendous thing, a new creation in of itself.

When I heard this, I knew that the time had come for me to destroy her. The world was suffering under her terror, though that was not the reason I wanted her dead.

I did not think twice about the people her Ikana was corrupting and how many lives were lost each day because of the Suegs. My wars were enough to prove how much I cared for humanity.

No, I had my own selfish reasons for killing her. The tension between us had come to a head and my soul burned to finally act upon my hatred.

Her Ikana offended me, and her existence offended me. Majora was always a potential threat and I cursed the gods for not letting me get my hands on her the day that she was born. All of her nonsense would have been avoided and I would be the sole, most powerful Deity.

I would throw her deformed body into the forever burning Ocean that she made. Then the world would go back to normal and I would be free to wage my wars and rule the sky.

I came to the earth and gathered the kings and leaders of all the kingdoms. Whether they worshipped Helena or me, it did not matter. I rallied them against Majora and her Ikana clan. Of course they already hated her because of what her Ikana was doing to the world, but many of Helena's worshippers hardly thought well of me either. They told me that I was just as bad as Majora, causing wars and giving little heed to the sanctity of human life.

To get them on my side, I made a hollow promise to cease warring but only if they would fight with me in the last, Final War. Still unsure, Helena's kingdoms submitted to my control.

Amassing the largest army in all of history, we marched through the desert that lay before Majora's home and there the first battle was fought.

I grossly underestimated the force of Majora's power. No longer was I the automatic victor of war. I had met my match.

Majora's men fought with Ikana, and for the first time in my life, I lost a battle.

Momentary defeat was not enough to stop the burn of war inside me. I would not finish fighting until Majora died at my own hand.

The war lasted for a decade. Every plain and valley was drenched in the blood of my men and Ikana warriors. Arkhaos was stained red from the loss of life.

Years passed and our armies grew smaller as the demands of war became greater. All men were forced to fight. I put my own burning desire for killing in their hearts and they willingly followed me into war. Each skirmish was a massacre as both sides were evenly matched. I never lost a battle again, yet neither side won. Every encounter was a stalemate.

I became a merciless, unfeeling god. The bloodlust was so strong that nothing else mattered to me. I let the sky rule itself. The stars fell from the heavens and landed on the earth, causing massive craters and killing innocent people. The planets fell out of alignment and imploded on themselves.

The moon became just another rock in the heavens. My Lunar people had to fend for themselves, as their father was too busy fighting with the mortals on earth to care for them. When they began to go hungry and perish in droves, they called out to my sister for help and Helena had to leave her place on the sun and care for my people.

Her own disciples followed her to the moon, for they too would die without her. With nobody left to care for the sun, that celestial ball of fire changed.

The sun turned black and the land sweltered. No longer was the sky blue, but a blood colored crimson. The cursed sun never left the sky. Night was never to fall upon Arkhaos again.

Under the dead sun, life on Arkhaos became harsh as Helena took on my duties and forgot her own. Even when she tried to return to the sun, it was too far gone to be saved. She was powerless.

Grass withered and trees turned to stone. Crops died out and the animals of the earth became extinct. The water of lakes and rivers turned infested with disease. Women ceased to give birth to babies, and nobody grew older. They became stuck in the age they were when Helena could no longer give life to the earth.

I did not care as the earth around me turned into a desolate wasteland. The war was still waging!

I recruited every remaining man on the earth and brought him into my army. Like sheep to a slaughter, I led them to a valley to fight the Ikana Army. Though it was not enough. The number of men on the earth had grown so sparse, there was not enough to satisfy me.

In desperation, I turned to the very people I had brought to my kingdom on the moon to save them from a terrible life on earth.

My Lunar kingdom was the last place in the universe where I could find people to fight for me. Even though I had abandoned them and left them to fend for themselves, my people would still follow me to war.

Men and women alike came from the safety of the moon and to the scarred surface of the world their ancestors had left hundreds of years before. Helena came with them and she begged me to spare my Lunar race.

She had spent so much of her power to keep them alive, as their very life force depended on me. How could I be so cruel and heartless as the lead them into a hopeless battle where they would surely die? They were not warriors, they were peaceful souls!

I ignored her words. They were my people and I would do what I wanted with them. They were loyal to me, not to her, no matter what she had done for them.

Helena grabbed my hands and went down on her knees. Every adult had come from the moon to battle, she said. Every man and woman that she had painstakingly kept alive after their near death was now going to wastefully die in a war. When this was all done with, there would be no lunar race left.

I asked about the children that were left alive on the moon. I had not asked them to fight. Why could they not repopulate the race?

Helena hesitated for a moment. Tears came to her eyes as she admitted her failure in keeping all but four of the Lunar children alive. Four boys still lived on the moon. Four boys could not repopulate the race.

Though I was faced with the extinction of my people, the men and women who poured their lives out for me, loved me, served me, worshipped me, and trusted me even to death, I would not yield. If they died, then they would serve me well with their deaths. I broke free of Helena's grip and the last men and women of the Lunar race followed me to where they would meet their ends.

Under a scarlet sky, a terrible battle with Majora was fought. The carnage was so horrific; I waded through pools of blood that came past my ankles.

I was the sole survivor of the battle. Every last one of the men was slain. My Lunar men and women had been the first to die. Helena was right; they were not warriors or soldiers.

Yet even as their blood stained my clothes, I did not give them a second thought. Four children watched from the moon as their entire family was murdered under my care. Four boys, innocent and young, were now alone in the universe, their god not caring whether they lived or died.

Though I had not completely lost the battle, for all of Majora's warriors were killed as well. Both sides had fought valiantly for nothing, only to lose their lives and prolong the war.

Asclepius came out of his nomadic life and gathered the survivors together. He took them to where the last visages of livable earth were. Helena aided them and they took them far away from me. It did not matter to me. I had no use for sterile woman and emaciated children.

The need for war was behind me. That had failed to get me what I wanted. Fighting Majora myself was the only way to solve this eternal conflict. I put on my armor, strapped my sword to my back, and painted the red and blue streaks on my skin. I was Fierce Deity, the fearsome god of War, first son of the four gods, and this battle would not end until I ripped Majora's head from her body.

Three days passed and I searched the bleak land of what used to be Arkhaos for my enemy. She was nowhere to be found.

In desperation, I went to the shore where she was born and the place where she first threatened me with her newfound power. The ocean was still burning. It had never ceased to burn. I stood on the scorching sand and I shouted loudly in hopes that she would hear me.

I challenged her to meet me there and duel with me to the death. We would put an end to the rivalry and see who was the most powerful deity. As I finished my words, the flames of the Ocean suddenly vanished. Not a wisp of smoke rose from the flat, scummy surface of the water. For miles, not even a ripple disturbed the ocean. It was eerily still. I turned away from the Ocean and a terrible sight met my eyes.

I was finally seeing what Majora had turned into. The sick power of her magic deformed her, changing her image to match the vileness of her soul. She was a demonic creature, not even a trace of her old self was left. Do you remember the figure you saw in your nightmare? I believe that what you saw was Majora in her distorted body.

There were no words between us, only an electric tension. I pulled out my sword and lunged at the creature. Our fight to the death had begun.

We dueled each other for what seemed like years. All I could feel was the heat of battle, the sting of her tendrils as they tore at my flesh, and the sweat dripping down into my eyes. Beneath the red sky and the black sun, we shed our blood on the sand of the beach, but neither of us fell.

The battle raged on and on. I poured every ounce of my power into taking down my enemy, the bane of my existence, the thorn in my side. We were matched in power and strength. Only the gods know how long we would have been there, trying to be the first to make the fatal blow on the other.

Out of the corner of my eye, I that we had a spectator. Majora had seen the person as well, for we both paused our fight to see who was insane enough to be in the presence of two dueling gods.

Asclepius. The puny deity of humanity was standing there on the beach, watching us fight.

He told us that the fathers were unhappy with us. I said that the fathers could burn in agony. Majora replied in her language, but what she said I shall not repeat to you, Zelda.

Asclepius laughed, a high-pitched, muffled chuckle. I tightened my grip on my sword, for I expected him to give me some asinine parable to teach me a lesson that I was sure to not care about.

He told me again that the fathers were unhappy with us, and that he was going to punish us if we did not stop our fighting and make peace with each other.

He was going to punish us? I laughed at him, for how could he even hope to survive a fight against Majora or myself. Peace was not an option. Only death.

It would be easy to get rid of my brother, I thought. I raised my sword in the air and told him exactly how I was going to kill him.

You should not have done that, was his calm reply. His smile did not leave his face for a moment. Asclepius pulled a small flute from out of his robes and began to play a song.

I was still poised with my sword held high, ready to strike him, though I found myself entranced by the song he was playing. I looked to Majora and saw that she was also listening intently to the music.

The simple tune of the flute played over and over until my mind was hazy. I cannot remember clearly what happened. All I can remember is thinking that nothing mattered except the song.

My very life depended on my ears taking in every note. I would die if I did not listen. My body moved and I started dancing, a wild, crazed dance that did not cease. I had no control over myself anymore.

The song spun around in my head, making its way into my soul and it consumed me. Suddenly, the song became stronger and louder until I could not even see anything. My vision had gone white. Pain coursed through me and I fell on the sand. I felt as though my body was being crushed by a boulder.

The sound was louder and faster than before. I hated the song. I did not want to hear it anymore. I tried to cover my ears with my hand, but for some reason I could not move my arms. Still blinded by the song, I screamed for mercy but I no longer had a voice. The song had done something to me. I was not the same anymore.

Something was horribly wrong.

The silence was sudden. The song was gone. I blinked my sightless eyes and the whiteness faded.

I could see again. It looked as though I was lying on my back, staring up at the sky. I tried to move my legs and stand to my feet, but I could not get my legs to work.

Asclepius' face filled my vision. He was enormous! Had he made himself into a giant, I wondered. My brother picked me up and carried me to the still ocean. I tried to speak, but my voice still would not come.

'Take a look at what you have become,' was all he said. He held me over the water, smooth as glass, and I saw what Asclepius was holding.

A mask that looked exactly like my face was in his hands. Down to the war paint on my skin and the white hair which I had been born with.

The only thing that was different were the eyes. They were black and hollow. It did not make sense to me at first. I was being held in his hands, but why was I seeing a mask?

Then the horrible realization hit me.

I _was_ the mask.

My arms and legs and voice did not work because I no longer had any limbs to control. My face was made of wood and I could not speak.

Within my cursed mind, I screamed out my rage. I knew that my fathers could hear me and I demanded that they release me from my prison.

Asclepius set me down on the sand and I watched as he picked up another mask, this one looking like Majora. My demented sister had met with the same fate, though that did not consolidate me at all.

My memory of what happened next is very faint. I lost much of my sensibility as a newly cursed mask. I can tell you that my next memory is of my brother taking me to the moon where I once reigned.

The four Lunar children took my mask in their hands as Asclepius told them that it was their choice whether or not to take care of me. They could destroy me or keep me safe for the rest of eternity.

I remember thinking back on what I had done to them; I neglected them, left them to die, and murdered their families. To me it seemed hopeless that these four children would find it in their hearts to forgive me and not destroy me.

Yet I underestimated the faithfulness of my people. I was not destroyed, but rather the boys watched over me for the eons to come. As though nothing terrible had taken place in their young lives, the four Lunar children took me in and cared for me.

My kingdom fell into ruin. The glorious palace I built for myself crumbled into dust. Immortality was given to the Lunar children and they stayed as simple, naive boys.

I faded in and out of consciousness, never knowing how much time passed between being awake and asleep. The workings of the mask came to me instinctually. I knew what would happen if somebody was ever to put me on their face, yet I despaired of that ever happening.

I knew that this was my punishment for what I had done. I sinned against my fathers. From the very moment of my conception, I failed to act as the god that they wanted me to be. Failure was my only achievement. Instead of feeling regret or shame for my actions, I swore vengeance on the gods and death to Majora and Asclepius. My arrogance and pride prohibited me from seeing the truth of what I had done.

It was not until thousands of years passed before anything changed. The Lunar children watched over me loyally until one day, I felt a familiar source of power enter into my domain. Majora had awoken. A strong, disturbing magic was placed over the moon and I felt it crashing to earth. That devil was trying to destroy the moon.

Then I felt an even deeper power stop the moon by sheer strength. The fathers were holding the moon in their hands, preventing it from falling onto the earth. I ached to know what was happening outside of my tiny world as a mask.

A change fell over the moon and I felt my Lunar children cry out for help. Majora's Mask was on the moon. It possessed one of the children and forced him to put the mask on his face. The possessed boy picked me up and took me to a tree.

There, Majora made the boy sit underneath the tree and wait. I do not know what happened to the other three children. I felt them put on other masks of great power. Then another strange thing happened.

A mortal child from another world entered my moon. This boy, no older than the Lunar children, fought the dark masks that had latched themselves onto the Lunar children. I felt great, foreign power within this child. I knew that he was coming for Majora's Mask next.

I heard running feet and I felt the boy come to the tree where Majora sat.

'Do you want to play with me?' asked the possessed Lunar child. The boy, dressed in green, nodded yes.

'Let's play good guys and bad guys…I'll be the good guy and you be the bad guy,' said Majora through the child. I was handed to the boy in green.

I do not remember what took place between that moment and the first time the boy put me on his face. He carried me to a dark, yet highly colored room in some fortress Majora created on the moon. Before I could think about it, the boy lifted me up and his skin made contact with the wood of the mask.

I thought that my power would be too great for him and he would die from the transformation, yet he was strong. He survived while my body possessed his and I broke free of the confines of the mask.

I was the Fierce Deity again, if only temporary. My power was weak and limited compared to what it had been, but I believed that with the boy's foreign power combined with what was left of mine, we could defeat Majora.

A short-lived battle ensued. I easily and quickly defeated her mask form. Majora warped herself into the tall, horrific monster with the long tendrils. Power surged through me and I felt the boy's desire to end Majora. As one, we fought against our mutual enemy. I was desperately pleased to find that Majora was weak in this lifetime. Her madness had increased over the long years and her mind was too unhinged to truly be a threat to me anymore.

In our old forms, though still confined by the gods' powerful mask prisons, we dueled. With the help of the mysterious boy, I defeated my enemy.

My sword cut off her tendrils at the elbow. She screeched and ran around the room, blood spurting from her severed limbs. Majora, in one last, desperate attempt with her last ounce of sanity, rushed at me with a final attack.

I raised my sword over my head and as she came close, I swung it with all my might. The blade struck her side and I cleaved her in two.

Majora was finally dead. I felt the boy rejoice in his accomplishment, but my victory felt empty. I was still a mask. Though I knew I could live for some time as a mask, I did not want to burden this boy with my possession. He had helped me slay Majora, so I would show him some mercy. Though he was strong, he was not powerful enough to sustain my presence long enough for me to find a way to break my curse. Soon the boy would take me off his face and I would spend another thousand years in my prison.

For a moment, I allowed myself to fully posses him. I needed this hollow victory to be private. I walked over to the shiny surface of the wall and looked at myself.

My eyes were white and blank. The war paint was still on my skin, never to wipe off. I was wearing the same clothes that I had been when I last battled Majora.

She had called me the 'bad guy.' Before I thought nothing of it, but now it deeply disturbed me."

As he said this, the Fierce Deity roughly pushed me away and stepped closer to the edge of the lake. I had been so engrossed in his story that it took me a moment to realize that I was Zelda, Princess of Hyrule and I was listening to the Fierce Deity talk about his past.

The giant stared at his reflection in the water. I felt his turmoil. A great brown boot stomped the water, shattering his reflection. He stared up at the moon and his emotions rose to a feverish pitch.

"For the first time, I felt shame and regret for what I had done," he continued in a strained voice.

"I failed in my duties as a god. Instead of protecting the people of Arkhaos, I purposely waged war and thousands of lives were lost because of me. I looked back on the bloody war with Majora. I was so heartless and uncaring for the humanity that I was meant to protect. I forced them to fight a selfish war and they all died in vain. I rejected love and mercy and I let my own faithful people suffer. The very atmosphere was affected by my choices. Helena, my dear sister, had lost control over her own element because she was trying to save what I abandoned.

I was no better than Majora. In fact, I was more evil than she ever had been. The gods were just in their punishment. I was a villainous, traitorous son. I deserved these chains. I let the boy have his body back and he took my mask off his face.

Yet he did not leave me with the Lunar children. No, he took me back to his own world. Hope rose within me and I could see freedom from the mask in my future.

My next memory is that of the boy placing me in a house and leaving for a few days. He returned with a girl dressed in a pink gown. He called her Zelda and she called him Link.

I watched as they played with many different masks, though he never showed my mask to her. He kept me hidden behind a chair. Finally, the girl took notice of me and ran to fetch me. Link stopped her and warned her of how powerful I was.

I could see that this Zelda was still curious about me. Using this to my advantage, I cried out to her as I tried to posses her mind. It almost worked until Link stopped her. Then the stupid children decided that I was too powerful and I needed to be hidden.

The boy placed me on the ground beneath the floor. I used every ounce of power that I could to try and posses their minds and make them take me. My plan was going to fail. They were abandoning me, just as I had abandoned my Lunar race. Your great grandmother was very susceptible to my power, but they ran way before I could convince them to take me.

I waited for them to return. I suppose a century passed until I felt three people enter my domain in the woods. Not a soul had come my way, for the forest could sense an evil power there. The woods around my hiding place became as barren as Arkhaos.

I was beyond ecstatic to feel that Link, now a man, had come into my territory. I possessed his mind easily, too easily. Then I felt you, thinking that you were the Zelda I had met years before.

That is where our stories mingle with one another. Link and Zelda did return to me, though in a different lifetime.

To this day, I have no idea what happened to Asclepius or Helena. It seems as though my old world does not exist, though Termina raises my suspicions. As I said before, I think that Arkhaos and Termina are related, especially because of this Ikana Kingdom and Majora's Magic sharing the same name."

The Fierce Deity walked back over to me. I had no words. His story was overwhelming. I felt dizzy and numb.

His hands touched my face and I thought of how many men died because of those hands.

His history was shameful. The Fierce Deity had not been a righteous god. He was no better than his greatest adversary, Majora.

"What do you think of me now, Zelda? Do you still care for me, though my past is marred with innocent blood and cruelty? Do you hate me?"

I looked up at him, his past weighing on my soul. A whole different side of him opened up to me. To be truthful, I did see him differently, but my feelings for him had not changed. If anything, I felt sadness for him.

His entire existence was a failure. The broken man before me was supposed to be a glorious god, yet he was an exiled, hated deity that was lost in a world not his own. I cared for him more, now that I knew the reasons behind all the hidden sadness and pensive moments of staring up at the moon.

I stared into his white eyes and I felt warm tears pool in the corners of my own eyes.

"Yes I still care for you. No. I do not hate you. What I hate is that I cannot see your eyes," I said in a shaky voice. "They say that the eyes are a window to the soul."

The Fierce Deity smiled sadly and he held my face with gentle pressure.

"My eyes are white because I have no soul," he replied with defeat and shame.

I reached up and placed my hands over his, still holding my face.

"Yes you do," I defended. "Beneath your curse, you have a soul. You will find redemption and your soul will be saved…"

He said nothing, but wrapped his arms around my body and drew me into a close, tight embrace.

"Thank you Zelda," he whispered into my hair. I closed my eyes and returned his hug.

Freeing him from the curse was now more than just about saving Link. It was about cleansing the Fierce Deity's soul and helping him find deliverance from the mistakes of his past. Two lives could be saved if we found a way to break the curse.

Under the watchful moon, we stood there in an embrace. I felt tired and exhausted from standing in the cold night and listening to his story. Reluctantly, I pulled away from him and ventured one last question.

"In your story, you told me all the names of the other deities, though you never said what the gods called you. May I ask, what was your real name?"

Shaking his head, the Fierce Deity backed away from me and crossed his arms.

"I do not even deserve to speak of my real name. I was honored with the title that my fathers gave me. I tainted that name and I shall never go by it again until my curse is lifted."

"I promise that I will not call you by your name, I just want to know what it was!"

The Fierce Deity pondered for a moment.

"My name was Astraeus."

**Sleep did not come easily. **Though the night was halfway gone and dawn would rise in a few hours, I could not fall asleep. Too much had happened that day. The Fierce Deity's story was fresh on my mind and I kept silently repeating Fierce Deity's true name to myself; Astraeus, Deity of the Moon, god of War, Sentinel of the Night Sky, and the Fierce Deity Mask.

I tossed back my covers and left my room. With no particular destination in mind, I wandered down the dark corridors of the Manor, musing on the Fierce Deity's past.

Nothing as terrible as warring gods had ever happened in Hyrule. Yes, Ganondorf tried to take the throne for himself, but never had Hyrule been decimated into a poisonous wasteland because of him. The Twilight had been a terrible thing, but we recovered. Arkhaos seemed to have been completely destroyed by what the Fierce Deity and Majora did to it. It no longer existed.

Yet Termina seemed to have rose out of nothing, according to Shad. He spoke of a past so traumatizing, that history sought to forget it. What if Termina's unspoken past was that of the Fierce Deity's war with Majora?

I would have to ask him of this in the morning. My mind came too and I saw that my feet had taken me to a room in an unwelcome wing.

I was right in front of my parents' door, but my sadness was absent. Curious, I opened the door and stepped into the room.

The bed looked inviting. I felt tired again and my mind began to ease itself into settling down.

I walked over to the bed and pulled back the ornate quilt. The downy mattress sunk cozily under my weight and I snuggled deeper under the covers. My body relaxed and sleep seemed to be near.

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. The door opened and closed.

I opened my heavy eyelids and saw that I had a visitor.

The Fierce Deity was right by the bed. His sword and armor were gone. His feet were bare. Only his pants and a loose, peasant shirt were on his body. Even the hat that resembled Link's was gone. White hair freely flowed down his back.

Suddenly very awake and extremely nervous to see him so…bare, I sat up in bed with my heart drumming.

"Zelda, you make me feel something I have not felt for anyone. I loved Hera as my sister, and I loved the moon because it was an extension of my own soul. Yet I let myself become too filled with hate and malice and pride to feel anything else. You, out of all people, are the first exception," was all he said.

He gingerly sat down on the bed next to me. His fingers played with my hair and then lightly pushed my shoulders back down onto the bed.

As I lay back down, he followed me. The bed creaked under his weight as the Fierce Deity took his place beside me. His arms tightened around me.

I should have been appalled at him, coming into my bed and lying with me, but I did not feel as though he had intentions to steal my virtue.

As we lay there with our arms tenderly wrapped around each other, I realized how starved for love he had been all those eons ago as a ruthless, warring deity. Just as he needed me to help him break his curse and free his soul, he sought something in me that he had not found in anything else before.

When he was Astraeus, he had pushed back affection and love, thinking them to be weak emotions. Now that he was the Fierce Deity, he was desperate to fill his cursed soul with what he had denied himself for so long.

And he had found this small freedom, this tiny change of heart in me.


	12. Sky

**It's Fridaaaaay! And with the coming of the glorious weekend, here is the next chapter of Healing the Moon! Please enjoy and happy reading :) **

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**The night passed innocently and dreamlessly. **I awoke with the unfamiliar weight of my companion beside me. For a moment, I did not know if I lived in fantasy or reality. My back was to him, so I turned over to make sure that he was not a desperate creation of my imagination.

There he was, lying on his back with his hands tucked under his head. Fierce Deity's blank eyes were staring up at the embroidered canopy above us. I drank in the peaceful sight of him: the bright, early morning light shining on his face, his peasant shirt loosely hanging upon his broad chest, white strands of hair blanketing the pillow beneath him.

Fierce Deity felt as I had never felt from him before. He was at ease, completely content with a small, barely detectible shade of happiness. The Fierce Deity had never been even close to happy before.

As I gazed at him, my mind could still barely believe that I was not in a dream. Yet here he was in my bed, lying next to me. I thought of his declaration from the night before, when he told me that I was the first exception to never caring or feeling for anyone.

My heart beat a tune, like an endless drum. He cared for me. He cared for me. He cared for me.

I shifted myself closer to him. Taking notice of my movement, the Fierce Deity turned his sight to me. Wordlessly, he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against his side. I lay my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist.

It felt wickedly good to have the freedom to be so close to him. Before, when he had first entered my life, he was an untouchable, unapproachable, hostile being. He had outwardly and aggressively avoided any contact with me whatsoever.

Yet now he wanted me close. He accepted my touch. He willingly drew me to him, to be near him in an intimate, loving way. It was not a passionate desire he held for me. No, it was something pure and simple that he was looking for. The Fierce Deity longed for companionship, for what he deprived himself of for thousands of years, for the first tastes of love and affection that he hardened his heart against in the beginning hours of his life.

Of course, I knew that my own feelings for him were already established, somewhat.

It was not love that gripped my heart, for I was wise enough to know that true love cannot be formed in a matter of days. Rather, it was the beginning of such a journey. I cared for him more deeply and uniquely than I had for anyone before. He made me feel unexplainable emotions to which I could not yet put a name.

The journey did not seem to have an easy path and a certain end either. For all my emotions, my blossoming affection, and how much I cared, he was still the Fierce Deity, the god of War, Deity of the Moon, and the spirit of a cursed mask that possessed my dearest friend who could ultimately lose his life because of this mask. From an outside perspective, I had no business falling for a man like him and in such a precarious situation as this.

My mood, which had been light and happy when I awoke, grew sour and dark when those thoughts crossed my mind.

Sensing my change of mood, the Fierce Deity pulled away from me. His white eyes, the cause of my ever-frustrating need to see what lay behind the blankness, stared down at me. I had no idea if he looked at me with sympathy or confusion or anything at all.

My companion said nothing, but he knew what internal conflict I was struggling with. I could not conceal it from him. If he felt for me as deeply as I felt for him and if he was having the same battle, then I had no sign of it. Fierce Deity hid that well from me.

We lay there in silence for a few moments more, each of us lost in our private thoughts and sharing our emotions through our strange bond.

"Zelda," said the smooth voice of the Fierce Deity, interrupting the silence. "When do we leave for this place, Termina?"

"Well, I thought it would be best to arrive in Termina as soon as possible. We leave tomorrow morning." I replied. "Do we need to depart earlier?"

"No," he said calmly. I waited for him to explain to me what was on his mind, for I could tell that he was holding back something he wanted to say.

I gently nudged him in the shoulder, trying to coax him into speaking his thoughts. After the confession of his feelings and finally revealing his dark past, he had no excuses for hiding things from me any longer.

My quiet urgings worked. "As I said before," he began. "When I spent thousands of years as a mask doing nothing and waiting for something to happen, I lost much of my sensibilities. Certain details of my previous life became hazy. There was not much I could recall. Mounds of information just disappeared from my conscious. In that time, I felt neither dead nor alive. It was not until the boy came to my moon and put my mask upon his face that I began to awaken from my dazed state of mind.

Even as I sat in the rotting shack for a hundred years, I slowly began to recover. Now details, extremely important details that never should have been forgotten are rushing back to me. Do you recall when going to visit that scholar friend of yours and how he was showing you something he called 'sky writing' in that precious journal he cried over?"

I nodded. "I remember you saying that it was familiar to you, though you were not sure why."

"I know why now. It came to me after you had fallen asleep. I was reliving my past over and over and I started thinking again about my sister, Helena. Though I never learned the language that her disciples created for her, I know exactly what it looked like."

I gasped as I sat upright. The dots were connecting. Pieces of this great, tedious puzzle were being thrown together. There were too many coincidences, too many specific facts that tied Termina and Fierce Deity's world of Arkhaos together.

"You do not mean to tell me…" I began to say with excitement.

The Fierce Deity followed my movements and sat up as well.

"That Helena's language and this sky writing are one in the same? Yes Zelda. I cannot mistake it now that I remember. Whatever the sky writing is or who it belongs to now, it is somehow a part of your world."

"This is a very intriguing discovery, but what are we to do about it? How can this be of assistance to us?"

"There is one thing we can do, for if Helena lives in this world, for whatever reason, then she can possibly give us the help that we seek."

Fierce Deity swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood to his feet. Gone was the peaceful demeanor he had before, now replaced by the great urgency to solve yet another mystery.

I watched him, feeling suddenly shy at the sight of him without the armor and gloves and boots and tunic and hat. He no longer seemed like the Fierce Deity without them. There was something more appealing about him and I found it hard to tear my eyes away.

He did not let me admire him for long.

"There is no time to waste! Daylight is burning! On your feet Zelda, we need to leave as soon as possible!" he said hastily, though not unkindly.

"Where are we to go?" I asked as I obediently scrambled out of bed, his urgency contagious.

Fierce Deity smirked devilishly. "We are going to pay another visit to the odd little man with the womanly socks. Do you think he will be pleased to see me again?"

**Another unexpected visit from the Fierce Deity **was probably not what Shad had intended for today, or ever again for that matter. Unbeknownst to my unsuspecting friend, his dutiful Princess and ruthless tormentor were standing in the little alcove before his door. The early hour was still dim and misty with morning sunshine. I hesitated before knocking on the door, hating to invite myself to his house a second time in a matter of days.

A gentle breeze traveling from the north stirred the winter air. The Fierce Deity turned his face to the wind. A look of intense concern flashed over his features. He closed his eyes and deeply breathed in the flowing air.

"There is a storm coming," he warned in his rumbling voice.

I looked to the sky and saw nothing but a pale blue sunrise gracing the firmament. There was not a cloud in sight for miles.

"I am afraid you might be mistaken," I said doubtfully. The skies are clear. If a storm were coming, then there would be signs—"

"I do not care to be contradicted by an ignorant mortal, Princess. There is a storm coming, a dangerous snowstorm with heavy snowfall and freezing gales. It will arrive soon, and you had better pray to whatever gods you believe in that this storm will not impede our journey. Come, we must hurry."

The callous words stung me and bitter tears formed in my eyes. Fierce Deity pushed me aside and began to pound on the ancient wood door with his mighty fist. His nerves were thick with agitation and impatience.

As I waited for him to beat the door into splinters, I collected myself and tended to the wounds that were put upon me yet again by my companion's turbulent moods. Though he had briefly allowed me to witness a kinder, more affectionate side to him, I had to remind myself that the Fierce Deity was no god of benevolence. His geniality could not last for very long when the more ferocious, natural attributes he was created with took over.

This god of war was like a rose; beautiful to look at and enchanting to behold, yet sharp thorns pierced any tender flesh that tried to hold it, to feel the soft petals, to bring it close and lovingly admire it. How deceptive is a rose, that it is both lovely and harmful. As such a flower, so was the Fierce Deity.

My musings were broken by the sound of the lock turning behind the door. The incessant banging on the door was halted as the Fierce Deity waited without patience to enter the house.

A dark crack appeared between the door and the frame. From within the house came a shrill, frightened yelp. The terrified maid had undoubtedly recognized this demanding morning visitor from our last call. She tried to hastily slam the door in our faces, but the Fierce Deity grabbed the handle and thrust the door open with the strength of one hand.

We heard a thud and a squeal of pain as the maid tumbled to the floor. The Fierce Deity boldly marched into the room with me, a little shocked at myself for breaking into Shad's house, in tow. As I walked into the entryway, I saw the maid scramble to her feet and bolt down the hallway in hysterics. The stairs were creaking with the sound of another person running down the old steps.

"I'm so sorry!" I called back to her. My words were ignored.

"What in blazes is going on here?" Shad yelled, his thin voice surprisingly authoritative. The man reached the bottom of the staircase and came into our view. He was fumbling with the silk ribbon around his neck, trying to speedily tie it into his signature bow.

"Bessie! Who was that trying to break down the front door? Tell them that they are rude and unwelcome—" Shad finally caught sight of us. His face went through a series of amusing changes. He switched between surprise and distress and an attempt to look pleased and polite. The result was Shad standing there with his mouth gaping and his eyes twitching.

The three of us stood in silent suspension for a few uncomfortable seconds.

"Where is that journal of yours? I need to see it immediately," growled the Fierce Deity. His response was a gasp of sheer panic as Shad turned around to dash up the stairs.

"No!" cried Shad as he rushed to the second floor. "I cannot allow you to see my journal! My life's work is precious! I cannot risk it being damaged or stolen!"

"YOU PATHETIC NINNY!" Roared the Fierce Deity. He thundered to the landing and quickly crashed up the stairs, following the hollering Shad. "IF YOU DO NOT HAND OVER THAT JOURNAL, THE ONLY THING YOU WILL FIND DAMAGED IS YOURSELF!"

I stood frozen to the spot for I was stunned at how quickly this morning got out of hand. The floor above me shuddered as Fierce Deity reached the top. His footsteps shook the floor as he ran to where Shad had retreated to his study.

In a rush, I too raced up the stairs in pursuit of Fierce Deity. I heard a great crash and a high-pitched howl. As I turned the corner, I saw no sign of him in the hallway but I heard quite a commotion coming from the study. A door was lying on the floor, ripped clean off the hinges. I picked up my pace and ran to the fallen door, hoping that I would not find Shad's arms meeting the same fate.

I stumbled over the door as I entered the room and a strange sight greeted me. In years to come, I was certain that I would look back on this moment and laugh, yet at the time it was not so comical.

Shad was cowering beneath his desk like a mouse, with the journal clutched tightly to his chest as though he were afraid that Fierce Deity would snatch it out of his hands and set it on fire. Fierce Deity was towering over the desk with his double-helix sword raised high in the air.

"I WILL CLEAVE THIS DESK IN TWO IF YOU DO NOT HAND OVER THAT JOURNAL! I CARE NOT IF I ACCIDENTALLY CUT OFF YOUR HEAD IN THE PROCESS! IT WILL MAKE THINGS MUCH EASIER FOR ME!" He warned, shouting at the top of his lungs. I could feel that he did not truly intend to dismember Shad, but the threat alone should have been enough to make him relinquish hold on the journal.

"I—I will not!" Argued Shad. I admired his foolhardy bravery and how jealously he guarded his work, but this was getting to be a bit much. Fierce Deity jostled the sword in his hands and I felt him struggle with the decisions to strike or not. I could not stand by and watch a second more. Before I could let him make the worst possible choice, it was time for me to intervene.

I stepped in front of the Fierce Deity and knelt beside Shad under the desk. The opposing man behind me sighed with disgusted annoyance. Shad's cheeks turned red and he sheepishly cowered deeper under the desk.

"I apologize for my erratic behavior, Princess, but I cannot possibly hand over my entire life's work to some raving, monster of a man!" He said in a shaky voice.

"You are not acting erratically," I assured him. "Though you are acting a bit unwise and childishly. You are a grown man hiding underneath furniture! Come out of hiding and let us speak rationally. And that goes for ALL of us," I said very pointedly behind me to the Fierce Deity.

He huffed mightily and sheathed his sword. Shad crawled out from under the desk and stood to his feet, putting me between him and the Fierce Deity.

"Now that we are all calm," I said, though I could feel that Fierce Deity was angry enough at Shad to strike him if he was provoked. "Let me suggest an alternative that I am sure we will all be able to live with. Now, Shad." He jumped slightly when I addressed him.

"Yes, Princess?"

"Since you obviously do not feel comfortable giving your journal over to my companion, would you allow for me to see it?"

Shad's fingers nervously tapped the old, worn leather cover of the journal while he thoughtfully chewed on his lip.

"It would be a ghastly thing to deny the Princess her request. Also, you are my friend and it would be very bad mannered of me to show such mistrust now when I have let you look through it before. I suppose that I am rather on edge at the moment." His eyes flickered towards the Fierce Deity. Shad then smiled weakly and offered me the journal. "Yes, I will allow for you to see it."

I took the small book in my hands, feeling relieved.

"Thank you, Shad. I promise that we will not need it for long."

He nodded his head and silently watched while I peeled open the cover and flipped through the thick, parchment pages. Strange symbols and hurried sketches of unusual looking birds filled every inch of parchment. Quick notes in the Hylian language were scrawled in the margins and corners. I had looked through this journal a few times before, taking only a polite interest in Shad's eccentric study of the Oocca.

They were a very alien race that Link had come across in his journey. After he had discovered a way to travel to their home in the sky, Link passed the knowledge onto Shad. The scholar had practically wept when he learned that he could have direct access to the elusive people that he studied all his life. In the short years since Link's journey, Shad had established a fair relationship with the people, though they were very secretive about their culture and reluctant to share knowledge with him.

As I poked through the journal, Fierce Deity stood behind me and I could feel him taking in every bit of information on the pages. Though his mood was still foul, I felt him become anxious with excitement.

"Yes, yes, this is it! This is Helena's language!" He muttered breathlessly.

"Helena's language? Oh no! That is the sky writing of the Oocca!" Shad chimed in defensively. "Those symbols you see in my journal are apart of the unique language of the race of Oocca, not the language of this Helena that you mentioned."

Fierce Deity did not respond well to that.

"The Oocca? What sort of nonsensical garbage are you babbling on about, little man?"

"It is not garbage! It is fact! Let me show you!" Shad exclaimed. He walked over to me and asked if he could borrow the journal. I let him take it from my hands and he, forgetting his fear of Fierce Deity damaging his journal, gave it to the slowly fuming Deity.

"The Oocca are a very sacred race to Hyrule. They are close to the goddesses, even closer than Hylians! It is my personal belief that the Hylians are actually descendants of this race, and humans, Zora, and Gorons were created by the goddesses."

"This is a very controversial belief," I quickly interrupted. Of course I did not believe that the Hylians came from the Oocca. Shad's opinion on the Hylians' ancestry was very unpopular with the general public.

Fierce Deity listened with a frown and a growing sense of doubt as Shad continued to spew forth facts about the Oocca.

"And the Oocca used to be in contact with the Royal Family by use of the Sheikah, a tribe that is now extinct in Hyrule. Another story for another day! The Oocca used a very distinct instrument called the Dominion Rod—"

"Take me to see them." The Fierce Deity was no longer interested in Shad's lesson.

Shad looked scared to refuse. "Take you to see them? Why, nobody but myself and the Hero have seen them. I do not—I mean—that would be—oh, but why?"

Fierce Deity crossed his arms and narrowed his white eyes threateningly. "I have a need to see them. It is of utmost importance that I do so in a timely fashion."

Shad gulped and looked to me for support against this new demand. I could see in his eyes that the idea of Fierce Deity amongst such delicate creatures that he valued so highly terrified him.

"Please," I started. "If he thinks that he needs to go pay a visit to the Oocca, then it really would be best to accommodate him. We need your cooperation, Shad. There are circumstances that you do not understand, things that are very crucial…"

The room became very still and quiet. Shad looked at me with concern and a hint of fear at the unknown situation he now realized that he was a part of.

"Princess, what is going on? What am I getting myself into?" Shad asked.

There was not much I could let him know. I still feared that if people knew the truth about Link and the Fierce Deity, chaos would ensue. Yet I did trust Shad and perhaps if he knew more about the situation, he would be more willing to lend his help less reluctantly.

Fierce Deity was not glaring at Shad any longer. He was now glaring at me, feeling my internal battle with revealing the truth.

"Just tell him, Zelda. He can be trusted." He gruffly assured me.

Shad's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Tell me what?" he asked a little too loudly and showing his anxiety.

I stared at the both of them, willing myself to open my mouth and speak. The whole truth, Fierce Deity's past life as Astraeus, the connection that we shared, and the sensitive nature of our relationship would be kept from him. Shad only needed the bare bones of the story, not the entire body.

"Well, this man that you see here with me is called the Fierce Deity. He…he is from another world, the one called Arkhaos. That world was created by four gods, and the gods made four deities to rule Arkhaos. The Fierce Deity is one of those four created to rule. So of course thousands of years passed and there was some conflict and…" I did not care to venture into detail.

"And Fierce Deity was cursed by one of the four other deities. His spirit was trapped inside a mask. Thousands of years passed and the Hero of Time stumbled upon the cursed mask in his travels to Termina, and he brought this mask back. Well, five days ago, Link found the cursed mask in a shack in Ordon woods and he put it on…now you must keep your composure, because what I am about to tell you is a secret that MUST stay between us. You should understand that the consequences of you telling a soul might put two lives in jeopardy."

I took in a steadying breath as I watched Shad absorb that information.

"Link put on the Fierce Deity's mask. What you see standing before you is the result of what happened next. The spirit inside the mask possessed Link's body."

"I say, Princess!" Shad's fair skin turned a sickly white. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with a trembling finger.

"You must understand that there is not a straightforward solution. Fierce Deity is under a curse that needs to be broken, and quickly too because Link could die from wearing the mask for too long. We have until the moon wanes completely before Link's life expires…I do not think that Fierce Deity wants Link to die, and I know that I certainly do not! You are his friend so I can only imagine that you do not want him gone either. That is why we need your help in every way possible. It may seem confusing to you now, and it is still very confusing to me, but we have a need to visit the sky and see the Oocca. Please, do not refuse us."

"**A spirit from another world, **trapped inside a mask? How fascinating, although, it is rather a bad thing that our friend Link is in such a perilous state of affairs. A bad thing indeed!"

A flustered Shad was practically tumbling head over heels as he ran down the stairs. We were doing our best to keep pace with him.

"My man, you MUST tell me more of this 'Arkhaos' and the four gods and the other deities!"

Fierce Deity was not amused by Shad's eagerness to hear about his past life.

"When this is all said and done, perhaps I shall tell you more. That is, if I am even still in your land when my curse is broken." He replied gloomily. Shad's face fell slightly as Fierce Deity reminded him of the seriousness of the matter.

The revealing of Fierce Deity's identity had gone well, though Shad was now stuck between the exciting discovery of a god from another land and the immanent threat of Link's death. What mattered now though was that we had him on our side.

Shad had asked us to follow him out to the small yard behind his house. The way to travel to the sky was there. I had a hunch to what Shad was hiding in his yard.

At the bottom of the stairs, we followed Shad through a short hallway, making our way to a door at the end. Shad grasped the latch and pushed his way out into the open. I stepped outside into the cramped patch of earth behind the house. A massive, peculiarly shaped structure covered by a thick, coarse tarp took up most of the space. Houses built too closely together squeezed every side of the yard. Rooftops pointed up into the sky, which was turning grey with ominous weather.

Shad rushed to the structure and began to tug at the tarp with little success.

"Not to worry!" He said with his breath coming in rasps. "This blasted thing takes some—oof—urging to come off"

Not one to stand around and waste a chance to display his strength and superiority, Fierce Deity strode to the structure and impatiently shoved Shad out of the way. He took fistfuls of the fabric in his hands and in one fell swoop, he heaved the entire tarp off. Fierce Deity took a step back from his handiwork and looked up and down. I could tell that he was not very pleased at what was beneath the tarp.

The Sky Cannon stood in the yard, looking very out of place in the middle of the city. Link once told me that he used the Cannon to catapult himself to the skies. The experience of being flung through the heavens had been rather terrifying and he never cared to do it again he said. I knew that Shad frequently used the Cannon to visit the Oocca, but it did not enter my mind to believe that he was keeping at his own house! The appearance of the Sky Cannon itself was rather absurd, so I could only imagine what the neighbors might have thought of it.

"You have the Sky Cannon here?" I asked. "Your neighbors, do they know about this and if so, are they alright with it?"

"Oh yes Princess! Though I have raised more than a few eyebrows, for some people do not understand the progression of my studies, the neighbors let me keep it here without complaint! They say it would be perfectly fine as long as I did not blow anything up with it. Ha! I told them that this Cannon was as harmless as I am! Besides, there will not be much combustion happening because of me! Oh no, I am a scholar, not a bomb maker!"

Shad laughed at his own joke while the Fierce Deity continued to glare at the Sky Cannon with utter disdain.

"You mean to tell me," he slowly began in a voice full of forced patience. "That this _thing _is going to throw us up into the sky?"

"Like a cannonball!" Shad answered proudly, patting the structure as if were a pet.

"Like a cannonball…" Fierce Deity repeated. He walked over to Shad and placed his hands on the smaller man's shoulders. Shad squirmed uncomfortably as Fierce Deity leaned down close to his face.

"You…have entirely lost your mind." Said Fierce Deity with complete seriousness and concern. He shook Shad's shoulders, emphasizing his point.

"If you even think that I am going to be flung by a cannon into the sky like some flailing bird, then you are absolutely mad."

"Oh come now, it isn't all that bad," Shad said reassuringly as he pulled away from the Fierce Deity's grasp. "I will show you!"

He hopped to the back of the Cannon and began to step into the barrel.

"Watch me as I climb inside and—" his voice became echoed as he was swallowed up into the machine. "I will activate the Cannon with a switch. The wonderful thing about this brilliant piece of machinery is that no matter where you are, the Cannon always knows where in the sky to point. It will always find its target!"

Fierce Deity was shaking his head, extremely unconvinced at the practicality of the Cannon. I had to agree with him. Traveling to the sky by way of Cannon was necessary, but it was something I would rather not have to do. It scared me to know that in a few moments I would be speeding through the atmosphere, relying on the machinery to know where to shoot me for a safe landing. It was all very undignified and nerve-wracking.

"Alright then! I am about to activate the Cannon," yelled Shad from within the depths of the machine. "One…two…three!"

On the count of three, the Cannon came to life. The gears screeched and metal scraped together as the two legs of the Cannon hoisted the barrel off the snowy ground. The entire thing shuddered, much like an animal shaking off water, and it took a few earth trembling steps in the yard. Fierce Deity ran to my side and pulled me clear of its massive iron feet. It stopped within inches of demolishing Shad's house.

The barrel aimed at a spot east in the cloudy sky and the Cannon's gears made a deafening whine as they spun together, preparing to launch Shad. A thunderous blast filled the air and the head of the Cannon sung back with the force of the blow. For a brief second I thought that I saw Shad's small body sail through the air over the rooftops. The machine's gears began to wind down and the whole Cannon settled back into its starting position.

We stood in silence for a moment, both of us in a dazed, un-amazed awe. Then Fierce Deity began to laugh. It was a very mirthless, sardonic sound.

"Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no! I REFUSE to use this ridiculous contraption. That lunatic! Does he really expect us to do this? I think NOT!"

I pictured myself climbing into the interior of the Cannon and while I soared through the sky, my subjects would see me and wonder what in the goddesses' name happened to their Princess.

"There must be another way," I wondered aloud.

He subdued his laughter and became serious once again. "I will think of something," answered Fierce Deity. He stood next to the machine and looked up. "I used to be a god that ruled the heavens. Nothing can keep the sky from me."

He lifted his finger and made it parallel with the barrel of the Cannon. Then he swung his hand in an upward motion, making it arc slightly.

"What are you planning?" I asked, curious at what he was doing.

He made the motion twice more, slightly adjusting it each time. I could feel that he was very concentrated on that motion.

"I am going to follow the trajectory that the Cannon used to blast the little man. From here," he tapped the machine with his finger. "To there, that area in the sky," he said as he pointed to the east. "I have an idea. Would you come over here?"

I walked over to Fierce Deity, who suddenly grabbed me up in his arms. I instinctually grabbed him back.

"Hold on to me tightly, Zelda." He said. More than happy to oblige, I wrapped my arms like a vice around his waist.

"I am about to show you some of my old power. This is how I used to travel from my moon, to the world." A sensation of warmth flooded me as power traveled through Fierce Deity. His arms gripped me to him. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, gathering his strength.

Everything became light and airy as I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear. I buried my head into his chest. In a rush of wind and strength, we took off in an eruption that was more powerful and swifter than the Sky Cannon. My ears whistled with the sound of air sweeping past us and strands of hair whipped my face mercilessly. I was too afraid to look at what was happening.

We passed through something extremely cold and wet. I peeked around Fierce Deity's chest and saw that we were above the gathering storm clouds. Below us, all I could see for miles was the bank of dark clouds over Hyrule. In a second though, I closed my eyes and buried my face deeper against the Fierce Deity.

It was not a few moments after that when I felt Fierce Deity's body shift and slow down. I dared to open my eyes once more and I saw that we were approaching a floating series of buildings. A platform was hovering a little way off from the main cluster of buildings and I saw a small figure waving its arms like a windmill. Fierce Deity was headed to the platform and the figure. It looked as though there were another Sky Cannon on that platform as well.

We came closer, right above the solid bricks of the platform, and Fierce Deity lowered us to safety. His feet touched the ground and we landed as light as a feather. Shad was beaming at us like a schoolboy and Fierce Deity was silently taking in the sight before us.

"Welcome to my pride and joy, the birthplace of all my research, and the home of the Oocca. I present to you, City in the Sky!"

The moment was anticlimactic. I felt that the Fierce Deity had not expected this eerie, cheerless strand of floating structures. Anger stemmed from disappointment as he stared down the pathway that led to the city's entrance. A gust of powerful wind blew over us and I almost flew off the edge. Fierce Deity's hand grabbed my arm as I toppled over and he wordlessly pulled me back to his side.

Shad was awkwardly standing there, waiting for us to say how amazing the place was.

"Well, what do you think? Is it not splendid how the Oocca have managed to keep these buildings afloat? They have a masterful knack for machinery! Just wait until I tell you about the—"

"I do not care about their inventions nor anything else you feel the need to tell me. I only want to speak to these people! Now stop your jabbering and tell me where are the Oocca!" demanded the Fierce Deity.

Shad, looking hurt, clamped his mouth shut and looked down at the platform. His eyes roamed to a patch of tall grass growing out if the cracks in the bricks. Like a candle, his face lit up and he pointed to the grass.

"Oh hello there! We have a visitor. Or shall I say that we are the visitors and our hosts have arrived to greet us. Come out of that grass, do not be shy!"

The tall grass rustled as Shad continued to coax whatever it was out of hiding. Then the blades of grass parted and out stepped something that was not easily explained.

It was as though some insane puppet maker had taken the body of a chicken and the head of a human and stuck them together to make a creature from his nightmares. I had seen drawings of the Oocca in Shad's journal and Link described them to me, but seeing them in the flesh was different. It was so unsettling to see a small animal-like thing, half fowl, half human, emerging from the grass and scamper towards us.

The Oocca stared up at the Fierce Deity with pupil-less, amber eyes. He backed away from the Oocca and I could feel his disgust for the abnormal creature.

"What is THAT?" He hissed, every letter laced with revulsion and fury. "Is that an OOCCA?"

"Oh yes!" Shad happily exclaimed. "Aren't they fascinating?"

Fierce Deity shook his head no and took a step towards Shad, closing the gap between him. He got in Shad's face and pointed his finger into the man's chest.

"That THING over there is an Oocca, whose language you call 'Sky Writing' is the same as Helena's language?"

Shad nodded yes, his exuberance now vanished.

"And you mean to tell me that you believe the Oocca, these bizarre fowl that look like demons are the ancestors of Zelda's people?"

Another affirmative nod.

"So I traveled to the sky, in search of Helena, only to find THAT?" He angrily pointed to the still silent Oocca staring at him. Shad ventured another nod.

"HOW DOES THIS HELP ME? HELENA DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THAT! SHE IS NOT A DEMON FOWL!"

I tried to reach out and placate the violently rising temper of the Fierce Deity, but I was too slow. His hand flew to Shad's neck and held him in a tight chokehold. Fierce Deity lifted his arm and turned to the edge of the platform. Shad sputtered gibberish and tried to pry away the strong fingers from around his neck. I screamed for him to stop as the Fierce Deity held Shad over the open sky, threatening to drop him back down to the earth.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT, SCHOLAR? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL?" I could see the inhumane look start to shadow Fierce Deity's face. He was dangerously furious at poor Shad, who had innocently just tried to help.

"DO YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT HER PEOPLE ARE DESCENDANTS OF THESE CREATURES? YOU ARE AN IDIOT WHO SPEAKS BLASPHEMY! THESE DEMONS ARE NOTHING TO HER!" I ran to Fierce Deity's side and tried in vain to pull him away from the edge.

"Stop it! Do not kill him!" I begged with tears streaming down my cheeks. When had I started crying?

"HOW DO THESE 'OOCCCA' KNOW HELENA'S LANGUAGE? IF YOU ARE HIDING FROM ME WHERE HELENA IS, I SWEAR ON MY FATHERS THAT I WILL LET GO OF YOUR NECK AND LET YOU FALL TO YOUR DEATH! DO NOT TELL ME LIES, LITTLE MAN! IF YOU ARE LYING TO ME, I CARE NOT FOR YOUR PATHETIC LIFE!"

I quickly tapped into his emotions and discovered that he felt as though he had been tricked. This City in the Sky was not where he had hoped to find his beloved sister, and to him the Oocca suggested that our search had run terribly dry.

I yanked at the arm that was holding Shad over the abyss.

"PLEASE!" I screamed over another strong gale threatened to send me over the edge. "LET HIM GO! HE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!"

Shad's face was blood red and his eyes were watery. He kept shaking his head as he tried to croak out his answers, but I saw that the Fierce Deity was past the point of listening to anything either of us had to say. He was a desperate man, acting out of a very broken and hopeless despair. I felt him make the choice to let his fingers release their hold on Shad's neck.

"PLEASE HAVE MERCY! DO NOT BE THE GOD YOU ONCE WERE! HAVE MERCY!"

I screamed and pleaded with him as I pulled back with all of my might. Fierce Deity had completely blocked me out now. His emotions and feelings had been put behind a wall. He wanted me out of his soul while he murdered my friend.

White eyes avoided me as they glared at Shad, ready to watch him fall to his death. A stormy tension thickened the air as he readied himself to let go of the life he held in his hands.

Another wind blew over the platform and with it came the sound of a small voice saying something so simple, yet so significant.

The Fierce Deity and I turned around and looked down at the Oocca who had just spoken. Shad was still struggling in Fierce Deity's hands. He turned around to his victim and to my sheer relief, he brought him back to the safety of the platform. Fierce Deity let go of Shad and the man fell on the platform in a trembling heap.

The Oocca, who had calmly stared at the Fierce Deity throughout the whole ordeal, opened its mouth and repeated what it had said a moment ago. Its quiet, hesitant voice struck a chord in my heart as the words flowed forth in a question.

"Have you returned, Father of the Moon?"

Fierce Deity, in disbelief, knelt downbeside the Oocca.

"You called me Father of the Moon?" he asked with genuine astonishment. "Then you know who I am?"

The Oocca's amber eyes looked from the Fierce Deity to me, then to Shad, and then back to Fierce Deity.

"Yes, yes, I do know who you are, Father of the Moon." The Oocca replied nervously. "It has been many, many years...I almost did not remember who you were when I first saw you."

Fierce Deity blinked his eyes, scrambling for words to say. I had never known him to be speechless.

"Tell me," he began in a firm tone. "Do you know of Helena, the Mother of the Sun? Is she here?"

The Oocca's wings fluttered and the creature seemed a bit agitated. Fierce Deity waited with bated breath for an answer. His pulse was racing as he waited to hear news of his sister.

Though I was not fond of him at the moment, as he almost killed Shad in a fit of rage, I did sincerely hope that he would find Helena here.

The Oocca seemed hesitant to reply to Fierce Deity's question. As the silence stretched, I looked behind me and saw Shad lying on his back and staring into space. A few tears had trickled out of the corners of his eyes and were falling down his white skin. He was deeply shaken. Out of concern, I bent my knees to sit beside him and I placed my hand against his heart.

"How do you fare, friend?" I asked. He blinked the last tears out of his eyes and wiped them away with his hands.

"I have fared better, Princess," he answered in a flat, shaky voice. I looked to his neck and saw red marks where Fierce Deity's fingers had grasped. They would turn into nasty bruises soon.

"I am sorry for this," I began to say, but the Oocca had finally spoken.

"Come with me, and you will see," was all the Oocca said. It turned around and began to make its way down the platform. The Fierce Deity stood up and turned to where I was sitting with Shad.

I could feel his emotions again and even though I could tell that he was sorry for his actions, I did not plan on speaking to him again any time soon. He bent down and grabbed Shad's shoulders, hoisting the limp man to his feet.

"I am sorry for loosing my temper with you," he said and I knew that he was being truthful. "I hope that you will not hold that against me for too long. Bitterness and hatred will ruin your soul."

Shad straightened his collar, fixed his bow, and pushed his spectacles up his nose.

He looked Fierce Deity in the eye. "Thank you for the advice, chap," he said a little derisively. "Though I do not appreciate what you did, I can move on if you promise to never try to murder me again." He stuck out his hand in an acceptance of the apology.

I was happy to see the Fierce Deity accept Shad's gesture of geniality and they shook hands.

"Well, let us follow that Oocca," Shad quickly said after the shake was over and done with. I could not blame him for wanting to leave the platform and put some space between him and the Fierce Deity.

Shad went ahead of us and I stayed behind with the Fierce Deity, still not sure if I had forgiven him completely.

"I apologize to you as well, Zelda." He said, hoping to get back into my good graces.

I did not want to discuss it. His apology was genuine and he could detect exactly how I felt about what just happened. There was no need to say anything more.

"I accept," I said hastily. "Let us move on from that, I do not care to bring it up ever again."

"That is fair enough," he responded, a little sadly I felt.

"What do you make of the Oocca knowing your old title, Father of the Moon? Is that not what Helena used to call you?" I asked, glad to be away from the Shad subject.

"I do not know what to think, to be honest. There is no answer I can give that would explain why such a strange race would know of me, or Helena's language for that matter. I just hope that she is here, for then she can give us answers."

We followed Shad and the Oocca past a pool of water and down another platform, this one leading to the entrance of one the largest building. The odd pair of Hylian and Oocca waited for us to catch up with them before the door slid open.

The City in the Sky was dingy, gray, and crumbling around us. The metal walls were stained with rust and grime. Vines grew wild and there were more than a few unfriendly creatures hanging about. Floor panels would fall away into the sky below at the slightest step and more than once did the Fierce Deity have to snatch Shad or myself out of the air after we had found one of the loose panels.

We followed the Oocca through a series of massive rooms filled with stale air, some broken pots and not much of anything else. There were a few Oocca scattered throughout the rooms and platforms, but they would silently watch the Fierce Deity as we passed by.

It was a sad, somber, lifeless place and I could see why Link did not like to talk about his time here. The City in the Sky gave me a feeling of emptiness and a once illustrious, majestic era now lost to ruin and decay.

It was not long until the Oocca led us to a wide-open room where a set of old, grand windows graced the northern wall. A few weathered steps led to a small dais where upon sat another Oocca and, oh dare I say it, a floating head with rapidly beating wings on either side of the face.

"Here we are, at the main hub of the City," Shad declared, once again happily proud of the Oocca and their home. I was still balking at the sight of the head flying around the fully-grown Oocca.

Shad, taking no notice of my hesitation towards the flying head, kindly introduced us.

"This my friends, is Ooccoo, the head over all the Oocca, and her son. She is in charge of the City in the Sky and the keeper of the Dominion Rod, which I have not yet had a chance to explain to you, Fierce Deity what that is—"

At the words fierce deity, Ooccoo squawked like a startled hen and rustled her wings so violently that her pudgy body was raised off the floor a few feet. The flying head, which was her son, was spinning in circles around her and crying out in a tiny voice, rapidly speaking a language that I could only assume was the tongue of the Oocca.

Shad was stunned to see Ooccoo act so flustered.

"What is it? What have I said?" he asked fretfully. "Should I not tell them about the Dominion Rod?"

"No, no!" She answered in an odd voice. The golden colored feathers covering her torso were ruffled.

Fierce Deity stepped away from me and walked over to the small dais where Ooccoo stood. He towered over the Oocca, making her like an ant standing in his shadow.

"That thing over there called me the Father of the Moon," he pointed to the other Oocca still standing next to Shad.

"There was only one who ever called me such a name, and she was named Helena, Mother of the Sun. Also tell me, how does your kind know the language of Helena?"

Ooccoo fluttered her wings and nervously scratched her talons against the brick floor. She brought her eyes, solid amber ovals, to Fierce Deity's pale white slits.

"We know Helena's language because the Mother of the Sun is here, in the City."

Fierce Deity inhaled a sharp, hissing gasp of air and I felt a thin ray of hope shine through his darkened soul.

"Helena is here?" he exclaimed with anticipation. "Take me to see her! I must meet her without delay!"

A true smile decorated his usually snarling face, a pleasant change that I wished to see more often. I had only seen him smile like this once before and, just like the first time, my knees grew weak and it took all my strength to remind myself that I was still highly upset with him.

Ooccoo blinked her eerie eyes at Fierce Deity and I noticed that she gazed up at him with a pained expression.

"Yes, you will see Helena soon, for she is closer than you think," she answered sadly. Fierce Deity's smile faded and he frowned at her in mild confusion.

Before he could ask what she meant, Ooccoo closed her eyes and a change began to take place. A bright, blinding glow of light emanated from the creature.

Through the light, I saw the outline of her small Oocca body stretch and develop into the tall, slender figure of a grown woman. Wings elongated into arms and talons grew into legs. The shining light dimmed and I saw feathers turn into skin. Long locks of thick, wavy hair grew from a bald head.

The light had completely vanished and I gasped as I took in the new face of Ooccoo. I thought that I was looking at another Fierce Deity, yet the features were soft and feminine. There was certainly a resemblance between the two.

Her eyes were fiery pools of amber. Golden hair, the color of the summer sun shining down upon a field of barely, perfectly framed her face.

A lovely robe, the fashion of which I had never seen, lay elegantly on the new body of the beautiful woman that now stood before me.

I was too engrossed, and even shy at this woman, that I hardly noticed beside her was another burst of light. Her son, who had been a floating head only seconds before, was now morphing into the figure of a young boy. His face reflected his mother's, though his hair was brown and his features hinted that of his father.

The woman's eyes were locked onto the Fierce Deity. I looked to him and felt the vastness of his emotions. There was no way I could ever truly comprehend his vulnerability and depth of feelings at that moment as him and the woman looked at one another.

Elation, devastation, bewilderment, relief, and shame surged through him like a wild stampede of horses. Blood rushed through his veins as his heart beat uncontrollably and he took deep, steadying breaths to calm himself.

"Helena," was all he managed to say in a strained voice, thick with emotion.

I stifled a gasp with my hands. This was his sister? This woman who had formed from Ooccoo was Helena, the Deity of the Sun? Shad was gaping at the woman, beyond words for now.

"Astraeus," she answered in a voice as delicate as a sunbeam. Her tone was mixed with heartrending emotions as well. The expression on her divine face told the bitter sweetness of seeing her eldest brother once again.

"Helena, what has happened to you? Why do you live in this world?" Asked the Fierce Deity with a heavy voice. He walked over to Helena and tried to take her hands in his. She backed away and clasped her hands together behind her back.

"This is my punishment for disobeying our fathers…for defending you when I should not have…" was her answer. "You never knew this because it happened when you were searching the world for Majora during the last days after the Final Battle. The Fathers came to me and they commanded me to…" She closed her eyes and turned her face away from the Fierce Deity.

Fierce Deity, and myself waited with bated breath.

"Our fathers did not want their clean hands stained with the blood of their children," she continued. "So they decided to ask one of us to kill another. Since I was your sister, your counterpart, and the only being in existence who was close to you, they thought it best to ask me to be the one to exterminate your life. The Fathers sought to abuse the trust that you had in me and expected me to lure you into a trap so that I could fulfill my duty to them. It was I who was supposed to end the great Fierce Deity, god of War."

Helena turned her face back to us and opened her eyes. A haunted gloom passed over her features.

"They wanted me to kill you, Astraeus. I took it into consideration, for I could not turn a blind eye to the excruciating destruction that you caused on Arkhaos. Throughout our lives I had stood by your side while I watched you purposely cause war amongst the nations, time and time again. My people called you the god of murder and I punished those who slandered against you, though I knew that they were justified in their words."

She sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her hair. Fierce Deity listened with mounting shame and disheartenment. The sister that he loved was admitting that she too thought he was a monster.

"I tried to understand you. Yes, you were created as a ferocious being, but I always felt a fire in you that I do not think the Fathers ever intended. When I tried to convince you to change your ways, I was met with opposition. So when our fathers asked me to end it all, I wanted to take back all my eons of standing by and letting you do as you pleased without reparation. I wanted you to be punished for letting your Lunar people be sacrificed in your selfish war. The moment that you allowed them to all die, I saw that there was nothing left of the brother that I knew. You deserved to die."

Helena's lips trembled as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Yet I could not do it," she said tearfully. "I loved you too much to be the one to take your life. Though I knew that your heart and soul were too far saturated in hatred, malice, and murder, I also knew that underneath the darkness, you were still Astraeus, my brother, my counterpart, and my closest friend. I could not bring myself to do it. The Fathers saw the disobedience in my heart and they brought all of my disciples and myself to their home in the Heavenly Realm.

From their realm, I was forced to watch you duel with Majora's disfigured form on the beach. The fathers went and asked another of our siblings to destroy the both of you. Obediently, Asclepius came to where you dueled. I think that he reveled in the moment when he could finally have power over the two most powerful deities. By destroying you and Majora, this was his best chance to 'spread happiness,' if you remember how much that did matter to him.

So I watched as he played a song. You and Majora began to dance, wildly and uncontrollably dance to a tune of his own making. Three days passed while Asclepius played and you and Majora remained stuck in the dance. On the dawn of the final day, you fell down into the sand and your body painfully morphed into…a mask. The same happened to Majora.

You were taken to the moon, as I am sure you know. Majora stayed with Asclepius and she became a part of his mask collection. The four gods then went back down to the earth and they helped rebuild Arkhaos. The few people that followed Majora and practiced the Ikana fled into vast reaches of the wasteland. Other survivors gathered and with the gods' help, Arkhaos was rebuilt.

The earth was cleansed and the sun was ignited once again, yet the moon remained dark and unhealed. Cities were established and people were allowed to flourish. In seven days, Arkhaos had been restored and the people wanted to eradicate the past. They started by renaming the land from Arkhaos to…Termina."

Shad's eyes were popping out from behind his spectacles. This news did not come as a surprise to the Fierce Deity, though it did for me. We had already suspected this, but it riveted me that Termina had a reason for the eerie feeling about the land. It was not just my imagination.

Helena was not finished with her tale.

"I watched from the Heavenly Realm while this restoration took place, all the while patiently waiting to be returned to the sun. After seven days, the gods came back to their home and said that they would live upon the earth and never allow such terror to darken their land again. I asked when I would be able to come back to this new land and take my place as Deity of the Sun again.

Then I was taken from the realm and I felt time and space move around me. I found myself standing in the sky with my fathers. All my people were with me. They told me to look around and behold the sight before me.

Below and above, I saw three goddesses creating a new land. The fathers said that their sister goddesses were forming a world called Hyrule, a whole dimension away from Termina. I asked them why I was being shown this.

Exile, the told me. I was to be exiled for my insubordination against them. This new world would be my home and I would no longer be a goddess. Their children were a disappointment and a mistake, they said. The ones who had sinned against them were no longer allowed to live in the cleansed land. Only Asclepius, the good son, was able to stay and as a reward, his power would increase.

I was to face the same crippling punishment as my sister and eldest brother. My body would be under a curse and I would take the form of something unpleasant. My power would be stripped from me and it would be kept in a relic of my choosing. The sky would be my prison and my chains would be my new body. So the Oocca were created…" She ended abruptly. The sadness over her fate was strong and I felt pity for her.

"After I was cursed to this form, the gods left. I have not seen nor heard from them since. It was not long into my life as an Oocca that I felt Asclepius form a pathway into Hyrule, a world between the worlds so to speak. I traveled to the earth and saw him standing in front of a forest, which was his portal between Termina and Hyrule. For whatever reason, our brother created this forest to travel between the dimensions.

At first my power was strong. I decided to keep it in what Hylians call the Dominion Rod. This City was once beautiful and grand. The Oocca kept in close contact with the Sheikah and my wisdom and guidance combined with the Sheikah's protection, the Royal Family flourished. Yet my power began to die and weaken in Hyrule, for I am not of your world, and this City fell into decay. The Sheikah race was diminished and the Royals forgot us. There are some who might think that we Oocca are the ancestors of the Hylians, but they are mistaken."

Shad opened his mouth and say something to argue, but then quickly shut it for there was nothing he could say to defend his belief any longer.

"We have been here since the dawn of Hyrule, but the Hylians are the creations of the goddesses alone.

I do not know what happens in Termina now, though I can feel remnants of our old power still haunting the land. A hundred years ago I felt Majora's power come back to life and place a curse over your moon. Her power was strong enough to be felt in two worlds…and then suddenly it was gone, snuffed out like a candle. At the end of her reigning power, I felt you also come to life. Then I felt you travel between the woods and enter Hyrule. I hoped beyond hope that you would come to visit me, but I did so in vain. Then I felt you appear on the edge of my City in the Sky and I thought that my poor mind was going mad.

Now, you are here, seeing me for the first time in thousands of years. Now you see what I have become, the results of my loyalty for you. All of my people, even my son, faced the consequence of my failure." She gestured to the youth standing beside her.

Fierce Deity's emotions were overwhelmed. Helena's story was piercing the stone exterior of his heart and shame and regret were seeping through the cracks.

Not knowing anything better to say, the Fierce Deity looked over to the boy. His hand was stroking his chin in a nervous way.

"You had a son? When?" He said. Fierce Deity tried to move towards the boy, but Helena's son stepped back from his mother and he ran to stand behind to Shad. The man, who was used to seeing the boy as a flying head, just stared at him with disbelief.

Helena shook her golden head and smiled sadly. "You were never good with words, brother, but yes you are an Uncle to a demigod. He knows your past and he fears you. When you were off fighting your last War with Majora, I fell in love with one of the few remaining men on the earth and I bore his son. He was the last life to be born in Arkhaos before you and our sister destroyed it…"

Tears filled Helena's eyes and she suddenly clutched at her brother's arms. She fell onto his chest and urgently held him in a tight embrace. Fierce Deity tenderly laid his hands on her back and rested his chin upon the crown of her head.

"Why? Why have you done this to us?" She cried, her voice muffled as she spoke against his chest. Fierce Deity closed his eyes and gently pushed her away. Helena looked up at him, tears staining her face, and watched as he silently walked to the ancient windows and stared at the world below.

He regretted his life. For this first time, he truly and deeply regretted his actions. The consequence of his tyrannical reign had reached beyond his own curse and affected his sister, the only other person he ever loved up until now. The Fierce Deity was ashamed at himself for what he did to her, to her people, and to all the people of Arkhaos. Burdens of his past life weighed heavily on his already heavy soul.

Helena and I locked eyes with each other and a connection was formed. It was a bond, a shared moment of something that I could not explain. We both understood and felt deeply for him, this man who called himself Fierce Deity, and we realized that he needed us. His heart was broken, his body was cursed, and anger had corrupted his soul.

Without saying a word, we both followed the Fierce Deity to where he stood. His mighty arms were crossed defensively.

Helena and I stood on either side of him. She took one of his arms and pulled it to her. He closed his eyes and relented to her touch. I took his other arm and wound my fingers through his. Fierce Deity barely squeezed his hand over mine, letting me know that he was content to have me beside him.

"It took me many years to forgive you, Astraeus. I was angry with you, blaming you for my horrid new life, yet it took me a long time to swallow my grudge and forgive the miserable being that you had become. For all your mistakes and sins, you are my brother and I have never stopped loving you."

"How can you be saying this to me now? How can you find it in yourself to forgive all I have done?" he rumbled.

"I can see that you are in desperate need of change. Your heart and soul are open to finding deliverance. You recognize your shame and with that comes remorse. It is time that you find redemption."

"I am not worthy enough to be redeemed."

"Who is? Not a single person can say that they are worthy enough to be redeemed, but salvation is given to those who seek it with sincerity. I believe that you long to be free, not only of your curse, but of your guilt and disgrace. It is time that you find peace and start anew."

Fierce Deity opened his eyes and two tears escaped the whiteness. He breathed sharply through his nose, trying to hold back his outward emotions. His spirit stirred and a meaningful tempest of emotion boiled inside him.

I decided to pull away from our connection for a moment. It was a private battle that I wanted him to fight alone. What his sister said moved him momentously and I did not want to intrude on what he was feeling because of her words.

It was strange to be void of his emotions in my own soul. I had depended and relied on our connection, becoming used to it to the point of wanting it there. I liked for the Fierce Deity to be so close to me in that way. I hated to think of my life without it being there anymore.

Fierce Deity tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me to him, to be close physically. His head rested on his sister's and her arm was around him.

We stood there, waiting for our white giant to come to terms with his emotions. It was intimate and unreal. I am sure Shad was beyond uncomfortable, being a fly on the wall to a story that he knew hardly anything about.

Finally, Fierce Deity had grown peaceful enough to speak. Our connection was reformed and I felt that he was calm enough for now.

"What shall I do, Helena, to 'find my salvation' as you put it?"

Her answer was simple.

"Find Asclepius. He was the one who cursed you and he should be the one to free you."

"And why would he do that? Would he really just be so happy and willing to un-curse the murderous god of War that he had to destroy long ago?"

"Oh surely not, brother! You will just have to find a way to make him. I know that you are excellent at persuasion," she teased. The emotional tension had eased a bit and even Fierce Deity felt like a good jest or two.

"Yes, I am very persuasive, or am I not, little man? You know firsthand!" Fierce Deity called back to a still stunned Shad.

The poor man nodded yes, though I do not think he even heard a word the Fierce Deity said. He turned away from the scholar and back to Helena.

"I do want to know one more thing. If you are cursed, then how were you able to come back to your true form?"

"The gods said that on the chance you ever came to see me, all of my people and I would turn back to our old selves for as long as you stayed. They probably never believed that you would find your way here, so they did not believe it would ever happen."

Fierce Deity frowned. "So when I leave...?"

"I will turn back into Ooccoo." She said dejectedly. "It is my fate to be so."

"When I find a way to break my curse," said the Fierce Deity as he let go of my hand and put his arms around his sister in a reassuring hug. "I promise that I will find a way to free you of yours and restore your power."

"Thank you, Astraeus," she said gratefully.

They parted and Fierce Deity once again stood at my side. The three of us turned our sights to the window and looked out at the thickening sea of dark clouds covering the earth.

"A storm is coming," said the stern voice of Helena.

"I felt it arrive early this morning," answered Fierce Deity. "I am afraid that it will delay our journey to Termina."

"Yes, but it is not only that kind of storm," she said ominously. Her brow furrowed.

"A darkness will come, and it will come soon. You must be on your guard at all times, Zelda." I jumped as Helena addressed me for the first time.

"Me?" I answered weakly. "A darkness will come for me?"

"Yes," she said somberly. "I do not know exactly what that darkness will entail, but ever since Fierce Deity came back, I can feel the power of Majora rising once more and when it manifests, she will come for you."

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Thank you ever so much for reading. Don't forget to drop in a review!


	13. Soul

**Alrighty, y'all. This weekend was super crazy and chock full of awesome nerdness! I was privileged to see the talented and beloved cast of Firefly in a panel at the Dallas Comicon 3 It pretty much made my life complete. To celebrate the awesomeness of Captain Malcom Reynold's face, which I saw in person and fangirled over, and to start off the new week, here's another chapter for y'all! Thanks to all who follow and review this story. It really means the world to me :) Please enjoy and happy reading.**

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**The sky was cold. **We fell back to the earth through the gathering chill of the atmosphere. A torrent of snow was already thick in the air. I covered my eyes as the harsh flakes whipped against the tender skin of my cheeks. Shad ran through his yard to the safety of the house. I began to follow him, but I noticed that my companion had not followed me.

I turned around and saw him standing like a threatening statue amidst the white snow. He was poised tall and straight with his fists clenched and jaw firm. Fierce Deity grimly glared into the heavens. Determination was rising in his heart like a roaring beast. All shame and regret aside, he was an angry god with a dominating will. His task was set. He was ready to conquer.

This was his burden to bear. I felt as far away from him as I ever had. I was separate from him. This aspect of his soul was untouchable by me. It belonged to Fierce Deity, and Fierce Deity alone. It was not just about saving Link's life anymore. No, it was something far greater than Hyrule or myself. Fierce Deity was to redeem himself and become Astraeus once more. The wandering, prodigal son was to return to his home. He was to remember who he was created to be. It was time to for freedom to reign over this chained soul.

"The storm is gathering." His voice was darker, deeper with a dangerous bite that made my skin shiver. Fierce Deity turned to me, his face stony and bleak.

"Let us leave for your Castle. We shall not make it to the Manor before the storm overtakes us." He commanded sternly. I could not read his emotions; only feel a thick wall of willpower and anger.

Fierce Deity firmly took a hold of my arm and steered me back into the protective warmth of the house. Shad was pacing back and forth in the foyer when we entered. He was in a state of great agitation.

"This changes my entire life's work! My goodness, what a discovery!" He ran his fingers through his tousled sandy hair and shook his head in disbelief.

"All my theories, the years my father and I both spent on extensive research—gone! For naught! Everything we believed about the Oocca is wrong! If only my father could see this! He would eat his own hat!" Shad turned to us and threw his arms out in exasperation.

"I will be more of a laughing stock than I already am once word gets out that I was actually WRONG! This is quite preposterous! But on the other hand, I can redeem myself and stand on the verge of a new exciting breakthrough—" The animated ramblings of the scholar stopped as he took in our somber expressions.

"But I digress," he mumbled awkwardly. "This is not a time for celebration or deliberation." Shad lowered his hands and shoved them deep into the pockets of his trousers.

He spoke to the Fierce Deity. "I suppose that there is much more to you than you're letting on," observed Shad delicately. "You and the Princess seem to be facing quite the obstacle, what with Link's life hanging in the balance and wanting to break the curse that is on your sister…" Blue eyes searched the depths of pale pools of white and the two men studied one another silently. Fierce Deity and I had lost the energy to use words for now. Shad was not deterred by the lack of communication though.

"I wish you the very best success in your quest." Shad nodded politely at us. He widened his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Well go on you two! You've got work to do before that storm comes!" Feeling numb from the weight of this morning, Fierce Deity and myself were ushered to the front door by Shad, who was trying his best to lift our spirits. I found myself somehow standing at the open door, staring blankly into the swirling snow outside. My eyes were tricking me. Helena's sad, lovely face kept appearing in the snow, the flakes forming themselves into her features. I could almost hear her voice painfully asking Fierce Deity why he had done so much wrong against her.

A real voice was actually speaking, pushing Helena's imaginary one out of my head. It was Shad's. He was asking the Fierce Deity to someday tell him the whole story of his past.

"My good man, someday will you return and fill me in on your enthralling history?"

I awakened from my daze and listened to Fierce Deity's response. The giant man inhaled a gust of air and exhaled it heavily.

"I will not promise you anything. We will see what the days before us bring."

My heart wrenched at the uncertainty in the voice of my brave, strong companion. What would happen to Fierce Deity when Link was freed from the parasitic curse of the mask? Could his soul exist without the mask acting as its body? I looked inside the Fierce Deity's heart and I felt us sharing the same alarming concerns. He did not know what would happen to him either. The visit with Helena had shaken him deeply, as much as it had invigorated him. The fallen god was more than ready to find a way to break his curse, but the unknown ending to this journey frightened even him.

There was too much at stake. I rested my hand against my forehead and I felt dizzy. Fierce Deity's strong hand steadied me.

"We will take our leave, scholar. Thank you for aid," Fierce Deity said woodenly. No expression, no emotion, just words flatly spoken. I was turned around by strong hands and led out the door and back into the cold winter morning.

The snow was angry. I was suffocated by the thickness of the flurries. Fierce Deity wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me close to him.

"The storm is almost upon us!" He yelled over the whistling wind. "We must race the storm back to your Castle!" I tried to call back a response, but my small, feminine voice was drowned out by the deafening gale. Fierce Deity grabbed my waist and quickly placed me on the saddle of my mare. He mounted his barebacked stallion.

Our poor horses were bowing their heads against the wind as we struggled our way through the winding streets of Castle Town. The blizzard was blindingly thick; I could only see a black shape a few feet in front of me that I knew to be Fierce Deity's horse. How he knew his way to the Castle, I do not know. I think that Link's memories were guiding him. Then again, how could he even see through this storm?

Fierce Deity's broad body was breaking the flow of the wind as I rode behind him, making it less of a struggle for me to ride in the storm. I closed my eyes and let go of my reins. My mare would follow Fierce Deity's lead. I needed my arms to keep me warm. Violent shivers wracked my body. I had never been so cold in my life! Fierce Deity wore no coat, just a simple black cloak. How could he stand the freezing snow?

I opened up my eyes again, yet my heart plummeted to my stomach. The black shape of Fierce Deity's horse was nowhere to be found. In a matter of a few seconds, he had vanished! I frantically looked around me and saw nothing but white flakes filling the air. There were no buildings, nor was there a clear path. I was lost in my own city! What if I accidentally walked through the gates and into the fields beyond, misguided by the storm and lost until a search party found my body?

In a panic, I started to scream as loud as I could over the shrill whistle of the storm, hoping that Fierce Deity could somehow hear me. I could not even feel him near me. The storm was blinding my soul!

An arm shot out of the swirling snow and grabbed my reins. Fierce Deity was beside me. His body materialized from the storm as he steered his horse next to mine. My fear of dying in the storm settled as he looked down at me with his stern face. I felt foolish for closing my eyes, even for a second.

My hand tightly clasped onto his wrist. I would not lose sight of him again! I needed to feel him, to touch him and know that I would be safe as long as we were together. This thought warmed my soul. I felt a little less cold and a great deal embarrassed.

Very soon, the great steps leading to the Castle courtyard loomed before us. The heavy gates did not swing open upon our arrival. The guards could not even see us. Fierce Deity jumped from his horse and marched through the knee-deep snowdrifts. He leaned into the massive iron and wood panels and grunted with exertion as the door gave way to his touch.

I could not even see five feet beyond the open gates. The courtyard of my Castle was hidden by the blizzard. In all my memories of winter, I had never seen such a powerful storm.

Fierce Deity and I raced through the Courtyard, keeping our path straight, for the door to the Castle was dead ahead. We were almost to shelter.

The snow-covered hooves of our horses clomped silently up the stone steps and we hurriedly dismounted, not even bothering to brush the snow off our clothes. Fierce Deity thrust open the door and we tumbled inside.

A multitude of people descended upon us as soon as we entered the Castle. I saw Moira looking down at me from somewhere in the mix of faces. Hands pulled me to my feet and a loud voice commanded everyone to give me space. All the people moved back as though they were being threatened with a torch. Dozens of eyes stared at the white giant clad in a black cloak, holding me steady and angrily glaring back at all of them.

Moira was taking him in with a critical, doubtful eye.

"Princess, we were worried about you getting lost in that storm. We are happy to see that you've returned to the Castle and not that Manor," she said sharply. "Is this the man that has destroyed your Throne Room and Library?"

I could tell by her voice that she was less than pleased to see him here with me.

"Thank you for your concern. It was smarter to try and return to my home instead of attempting to brave the storm and go back to the Manor. And yes, this is the very same man and he is as welcome here as any of my most important guests. He will no longer be a problem," I snapped a little unkindly. The events of today had made me more than tense.

All of the people surrounding me were gazing at the Fierce Deity in awe. This was the raving madman who had attacked Ambassador Taran, destroyed the Library and the Throne Room, singlehandedly freed the entire Council of their curse, and was also staying with the Princess Zelda in the Manor. Alone. I am sure the imaginations of the people were as wild as the rumors about him that were flying through the Castle.

Moira stepped out of the group of people in an offended huff.

"Well Princess, this morning a visitor came for you and we tried to send you a message to come see them at once, but we learned that you had come to the Town on 'personal business.' Then we feared you would get lost in the storm on your way back, but I see that you had some help." My old nurse cut her eyes at Fierce Deity. He just stared back at her with an uninterested expression.

Oh goddesses forbid that he give me help and save me from a certain icy grave, Moira. I was not pleased with her attitude.

"And what of the visitor?" I asked, wanting to get us away from this group of prying, gossipy people. "Are they still in the Castle?"

"Your guest is in your parlor, waiting for you," Moira answered flatly, still trying to get Fierce Deity to wither under her glare. That woman did not like him, at all. She probably thought he had me under some sort of seductive curse.

Maybe he did.

I did not wait for her to tell me who was expecting me in the parlor. I just hurried off as fast as I could without being improper in front of my subjects. Fierce Deity followed me, not saying a word to anybody. He wanted away from those people as much as I did.

I stormed my way to the parlor, the very same one I had met with Taran for the disastrous marriage proposal not too long ago. I had not far to go before I was in front of a familiar door painted white and gold.

It was ajar, so I pushed it open wide. The warmth of the fireplace in the hearth greeted me like an old friend. I felt relaxed and at home.

There was a dark figure sitting on the couch. At our arrival, it slowly stood to its full height. I felt Fierce Deity's wrath and malice return in a heartbeat. He felt like he did when I first met him in the woods a week ago.

The reason for his sudden return to the wild, angry man was the tall figure. A black and blue robe covered a cascade of fiery orange hair and a slim, pale face. It was her.

Midna had returned to Hyrule.

"**Do you think the snow is lovely now? **It is like death out there, Zelda!"

"Midna!" I exclaimed with excitement. I rushed over to embrace her, but she backed away from me with her crossed arms defensively. Her face wore a tight-lipped smile that clearly said, "I'm here, but I still don't like you."

"I came here earlier in the day, but that older woman told me you were at a place called the Manor. Everything was fine until the 'blizzard', or whatever it's called, happened. The sky was clear and blue, then all of a sudden all chaos breaks loose." She said, completely disregarding any introduction or greetings between us and delving right into business.

Her scarlet eyes burned into Fierce Deity.

"I see you're still here," she spat.

"For now," Fierce Deity growled, tightening his fists.

Was I always going to have to put myself between him and someone he wanted to pick a fight with?

"Please," I began with exasperation. "We have had enough melodrama for this week. Can we all be civil with one another? Bickering and spite will not bring about anything constructive."

Two surly people sighed with disgust and silently agreed to lay down arms.

Midna plopped down on the couch and I sat next to her, only to be mortified as she scooted away from me until her side hit the arm of the seat. Fierce Deity stood as usual, never taking a moment to sit down.

"Well what sort of melodrama have you been dealing with? The servant who led me to this room kept going on about a giant man who ripped the library to shreds and almost killed an ambassador. What is that all about?" Midna asked.

The Fierce Deity made the mistake of replying.

"I was the man who did those things," he tried to say, but Midna's tongue cut into his words.

"Of course you were! Who else could it have been?" Midna turned to me and made a big show of leaving Fierce Deity out of the conversation.

"Zelda, like I asked YOU before, what is all this drama about?" She pursed her thin lips and jutted her chin out. I could feel Fierce Deity smoldering behind me. The tension was thicker than the blizzard outside. I was caught between two bitter individuals, one hating the other and I was trying to play peacekeeper.

So I told her everything. I gave her a quick synopsis of Fierce Deity's past, to which she did not bat an eye at. Then I told her that he was under a cursed mask and that the only way to free Link was to break the curse.

A hot, sudden argument broke out when Midna accused Fierce Deity of holding Link's life hostage and using the promise of breaking the curse as his ransom price. I once again had to step in and bring peace between Midna and Fierce Deity, though I could not help but silently and secretly agree that she might be justified in what she said.

The subject of Taran and his mysterious connection with the Ikana and Majora was next. Midna had heard me complain about the man before, so she was not too terribly surprised to hear that he was a sorcerer who used his dark magic to gain power.

"Its not like that's never happened in your world before," she said matter-of-factly. She was slouched in her seat and kept inspecting her fingernails as though they were the most interesting things in the world, much more interesting than what I had to say.

She was making herself very tiresome to be around.

"Midna, please take an interest in what I am saying. This is all very important to saving Link and I need for you to be completely compliant and agreeable." I tried to coax her into a softer mood, but her demeanor instantly prickled. She sat up straighter and crossed her arms, her fingernails no longer a point of interest.

"Saving Link? What do you mean saving Link? All we need to do is get that swine to take off the mask and break the curse and leave us alone for the rest of our lives!"

"It is not that simple. Link's life is in danger. The mask is using up his energy. His soul is being weakened to the point of death. If we do not find a way to free the Fierce Deity of the curse before the moon wanes, then Link will pass away…"

I expected her to fly into a fit of rage, to curse at us, or try to throttle me for allowing this to happen to a person we both cared for. Instead her reaction was much more chilling.

She looked me in the eye, her expression full of venom, and her breathing came in sharp hisses through her nose. Midna bolted to her feet and glided like a phantom to the Fierce Deity. She pulled herself to her fullest height, trying to get herself right in Fierce Deity's face.

She had a murderous look about her. Every inch of her was quivering with rage.

"If you let him die, I swear on my life I will kill you," she threatened, her voice low like a deathly whisper.

Fierce Deity narrowed his white eyes at her. He was not afraid of Midna. I could feel him promise himself that she would be cold in her grave long before she could lay a hand on him.

I stood up and put my hand on her shoulder to try and placate her. This terrible news was probably sending her reeling into sadness and despair.

Midna did not turn around as she shrugged my hand off and shoved the Fierce Deity out of her way. The door to my parlor closed with a slam that made my ears ring.

"Midna!" I called as I tried to follow her.

"Let her leave," Fierce Deity commanded. "She needs time to mourn in her own way. We must speak about our journey to Termina."

"What journey?" I asked, feeling defeated and hopeless. "This blizzard will take our lives if we try to venture out into it!"

"If it were an ordinary storm, perhaps we would," he said. "However, this storm is the work of something unnatural." Fierce Deity walked away from the couch and stood in front of the window, watching the howling wind whip the snow into a frenzy.

"This storm is the work of Ikana."

"Do you believe that Taran is the one who is making this storm? Why?"

"He is delaying us. He does not want us to pursue him into Termina, the coward. I do not think he knows that I possess another man's body, but I can feel that he fears me. Any servant of Majora should fear me."

"What shall we do then?"

Fierce Deity paused as if to let me voice the obvious answer. I was at a loss for what to do. We needed to go to Termina, but the storm was too strong.

"We shall go to Termina."

"In this storm? Are you sure? You saw how easily I became separated from you, and we were in the relative safety of the city! And the cold wind and the snow…we would be overwhelmed in seconds! How can you say that we shall go to Termina? There must be another way."

Fierce Deity turned away from the window and slowly walked to stand in front of me. His hands warmly placed themselves on my shoulders. His touch relaxed me. I gazed up at him and waited for him to explain.

"I am stronger than the Ikana," he said in a reassuring voice. "You do not know the extent of my power, but if you trust me, you will see. Do you trust me?"

I was a fool. Not five days ago he had said that it would be wise to never trust him, but so many things had changed between us since then…

"Yes, yes I trust you."

"Very well. At dusk we shall leave. It will be you and me, no servants or Councilmen. Your friend, Midna, can come if she chooses. She is a conflicted, angry soul, but she means well for the man she loves."

**I found Midna curled up **like a frightened cat in spot that her and Link haunted whenever they came to visit me. It was a plush window seat in a small, very private alcove. The tall window looked into the wintry world. Her face was pressed against the cold glass and I could see where salty tears had run over her smooth skin.

My heart broke for her.

"Midna, I am so sorry," I approached her gently. My friend's tear stained face looked at me over her shoulder. A great sorrow haunted her.

"They told me not to come," she said in a strained, bitter voice. "The tribal elders told me to stay far away from the world of light when I told them about the mask. They were afraid. I had never seen them so fearful before. They said that a mask with the power to posses a mighty hero was a great evil, and no good ever came of a mask…they forbade me to return. I was confused by their fear. I tried to tell them that no mask would hurt me, but they were adamant.

They took the shadow stone that allowed me to travel between worlds and put it under lock and key. I was offended by their secrecy. It took me a few days, but I was determined to come back. I managed to slip past their defenses and get a hold of my shadow stone.

When I was traveling to your castle, I convinced myself that Link was himself again and that infernal mask was destroyed. I looked at all the impossible tasks that Link had accomplished and I believed that he would do just one more feat…I thought things would be fine, that you had fixed your mistake and Link was himself again…but I see now that things are worse than before!" She was shaking her head and staring intently at the windowpane, not really seeing it.

"Now I see that my elders were right! That mask is nothing but pure, destructive evil!" Her voice was vehement, yet tired.

I was a little too quick to defend the Fierce Deity's mask.

"Of course he is not evil! Were you not listening before when I spoke of the witch Majora and how her mask was the evil one? It is Majora's Magic that is the real menace, not Fierce Deity's! Her magic was the one that Taran used to curse my council and try to force me to marry him to gain power! All Fierce Deity wants to do is just free himself and his sister from their curses. Can you not see what the real issue at stake is?" I pleaded with her.

Midna's demeanor grew more sour with each word I spoke.

"The real issue? Oh I see what the real issue is, Zelda. YOU are the real issue! What is it with you? Are you so enamored by this 'god of the moon' that you cannot see how DANGEROUS he is? HE'S GOING TO KILL LINK IF HE DOES NOT GET THAT MASK OFF BEFORE THE MOON IS GONE! I don't care about some other mask that isn't a threat anymore, or about magic or anything! I care about your lack of concern for Link's life!"

I was speechless. Of course I cared for Link! It pained me each moment to know that he could die because of Fierce Deity's mask, but I admit that I had neglected Link in lieu of forbidden feelings for the fierce god of the moon…

"Enamored?" I asked, terrified by what she was accusing me of. "What do you mean by enamored?"

Midna uncurled herself from the window seat, sitting straight up and crossing her arms. She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing me with condescension.

"There's something different about you. When you and that brute walked into the parlor, I could tell that there was a big change since I had left. It took me a minute, but I figured it out."

"And what did you figure out, Midna?" I asked defensively.

She paused for a moment and I gathered courage for whatever she was about to say.

"You have feelings for him," she said flatly, a disdainful undertone staining her tone.

"No! That is preposterous!" I lied, like a shameful youth in the face of a disciplining parent.

"Yes! Yes you do!" Cried Midna as she flew to her feet and pointed her finger at my nose.

"You can't deny it! When you were telling me that sad sob story about his life, you said it with so much awe and respect. You were practically swooning all over him! You might as well be taking his side! You're almost letting him kill Link, because you WANT him here for yourself!"

"No!" I raised my voice, desperately trying to deny the truth. If Midna knew that my affections were for Fierce Deity, then she might believe that I would choose him over Link.

"Midna, no, that is not true! I have respect for him because I do not hate him like you do! I am NOT letting him kill Link, I am just helping him find a way for them to both survive!"

"Stop it, Zelda! Stop saying that you don't, because we both know that you do! You know what you are? You're selfish! You were selfish for not trying to fight Zant when he took over your kingdom and turned your subjects to shadows! You were a selfish coward then, and nothing about that has changed! Now you've gone and made the stupid, senseless mistake of falling for the very thing that is going to kill somebody that I love! How could you do this to me? To Link?"

Anger raged inside me so strongly that the Fierce Deity, wherever he was in the castle, could feel it over his emotions. I held back accusations of my own and took in a steadying breath.

"Do not slander against me, Midna." I said as calmly as I could. I wove my fingers together and closed my eyes, waiting for the anger to pass.

"I would never dream of allowing Link to die. I am doing all that I can to save him. Whatever my feelings may be, they do not matter. Link is more important than anything that I feel. And I do not feel anything that I should not."

Midna did not believe me. I did not expect her to. She sat there, saying nothing, but seething at me.

"Now, if you want to help me and the Fierce Deity, then we are leaving for Termina at dusk. There is a man, well a god that we need to find. He was the one to curse Fierce Deity and he holds the key to setting him free. Would you like to join us?"

Midna's answer was biting. "Nothing will stop me from saving the man that I love. No evil mask or storm or backstabbing friend."

I sighed and took her hand in mine.

"Midna if we are going to work together, then we need to resolve the issues between us. We are friends and we both care greatly for Link. Let us put aside resentment and anger and be united instead of divided."

My friend would have none of it. She withdrew her hand from mine and walked away from me, speaking as she went.

"I don't think so, Zelda. This is your entire fault and you can't even admit that you're wrong. You're lying to me about your feelings and I just don't believe you when you say that you care. When we save Link's life, I don't think I can ever forgive you."

**He was waiting for me **when I stepped out of my chamber's dressing room and into the bedroom. The night had come I was weary after my confrontation with Midna. Sickened with myself, I wanted to rest my body before the harrowing journey through the blizzard.

"How did you know that I would come here," I asked, shyly pulling my silk robe closer around me. He said nothing, but smiled softly at me as he slid the scabbard from his shoulder and set his weapon on the floor.

I hesitantly walked over to the bed and pulled back the rich fabric. Midna's words about my feelings for the Fierce Deity rang in my head. I had forcefully denied them to her face and here I was about to lie down with him sitting by my bed. As innocent as our time was together, I still felt deceitful for going behind her back and doing exactly what she indicted me of.

My body settled into the plush mattress and I felt my eyes grow heavy with exhaustion. Today had been emotionally and physically draining: the visit to the sky, the meeting with Helena, Shad almost being thrown to his death, and Midna hating me like she had when we first met one another.

Even the Fierce Deity seemed fatigued as he sat down next to me. Strong arms heavily encircled my body as I sat up next to him. I wanted to push him away, yet hold him as tightly as I could.

He could feel that all was not right with me.

"What is wrong with you, Zelda?" He murmured. My heart panged as he repeated words that Midna had said not too long ago, and in a more detestable tone of voice.

I buried my face in his broad chest and I felt his heart beating solidly within. So mesmerizing and intimate was the sound of his heartbeat, I took a second to listen before I answered. Though I did not know if the heart that beat was Link's or his, I felt connected to him in a way that seemed even more personal than our shared emotional bond.

He repeated my name, breaking me out of my trance. "Zelda?"

I pulled my face away from his chest and tilted my head to look up at him.

"I am a despicable friend," I said, feeling like the lowest piece of humanity to walk the face of the earth. I was enjoying listening to the sound of Fierce Deity's heartbeat while Midna wandered the castle, alone.

Fierce Deity frowned. "Why do you say that?"

I told him about my exchange with Midna, trying to skirt around admitting the unspoken feelings that were between us. I was not ready to voice them, and I knew that he would never do so. We did not have to tell each other, though. They were just there, refusing to come out into the open.

"I am so out of character," I said, wondering if he could sense what I was trying so hard not to say. "Midna thinks that I am selfish for…for certain things, and I am starting to agree with her. She thinks that I would just let Link die so that you can live. She thinks that I would chose you over Link…" I pushed myself away from Fierce Deity, turning my back to him.

"People except me to be one certain way. They forget that I have feelings like anyone else does. I am born and bred to be a perfect girl that will grow into a perfect princess and someday be a perfect queen. My character is to be one-dimensional, never acting out or showing emotion. I have to be perfect and when I am not, people see it as a failure. I suddenly become unfit to rule. Can you see why I am bothered by this? Midna expects me to be perfect and I have failed her—"

"You are not a perfect person." Interrupted Fierce Deity. "I am a deity and I am flawed, deeply flawed. Not even the children of the gods were made infallible."

"But she called me selfish, and I do not think that I am a selfish person. I have always tried to be self-sacrificing, but now I am conflicted. Am I acting selfish?

"Perhaps. You cannot expect me to tell you what is moral or ethical. The only thing I can argue is that you have given so much of yourself to others. I do not have to ask to know that. All I need is to look in your soul and see what you have done for Hyrule, and what you have done for her personally. I can look into Link's memories and see what you did when she was on the verge of death. You gave her your life! Self-sacrificing does even begin to describe what you are. She has no right to hold anything against you when you have clearly shown her just how far you are willing to go for those you love. If you are selfish for what you feel, then so be it. I know your heart…you will chose him over me if the time comes for that. You do not know what the future may bring. Let yourself have this one thing. Live in this moment. Live for what you can now."

He may have been absolutely wrong, but it was what I wanted to hear. This is all I might ever have with him. I would take every chance to be close to him that I could. If that made me an imperfect person then I chose those consequences. Fierce Deity was everything and nothing that I needed. Of course I would do anything and everything I could to save my friend. Of course Link would be more important in the end, but this moment in time was mine.

Fierce Deity wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close until my body was perfectly melded with his. I could have cried bittersweet tears from the contentment I felt being so near to him.

He lay down in the bed with me. My heart pounded. I wanted to spend another peaceful night with him by my side. Yet I felt guilt pressing on me. I could not do this to Midna. I could let myself have whatever feelings I did, but this was too far. I could NOT justify this, no matter what Fierce Deity said. I had to draw the line somewhere.

"I just need to be careful," I whispered, pushing him gently away. His face fell and I could see that he was slightly disappointed, but he respectfully eased himself off of my bed. I pulled the covers over myself and watched as he pulled a small couch next to my bed.

"I still won't leave you tonight," he said.

"I don't want you to," I replied shyly.

He smiled warmly at me and stroked my hair with his hand.

"I want to know that you'll be safe. I won't take Helena's warning lightly. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you…"

"Fierce Deity…" I whispered back. My heart was full of warm feelings. He was not making my dilemma any easier.

"Sleep now, Zelda," he whispered richly into my ear. "We have a long night ahead of us."

In a few moments, I succumbed to a quick and deep slumber. At first my dreams were nothing more than warped, random images from the day. I saw Shad flying around the City in the Sky with wings like an Oocca, chasing a half-transformed Helena who kept insisting that she did not want to become Shad's newest wife.

Fierce Deity and I were standing on the Sky Canon, watching the scene unfold. He kept shaking his head and saying that he should never have left Helena alone, otherwise Shad would not be so adamant in his desires.

I looked down and spotted Midna skulking around the base of the Canon. She ignored me when I called out to her. I jumped off the Canon, not even saying goodbye to the Fierce Deity, and I tried to go to her. Midna caught sight of me and she ran away like a startled deer, so I took chase and followed her.

I followed her mane of orange hair, never catching pace. All around me grew darker and darker until I could only see blackness. I was not afraid. A part of me believed that Midna had led me there for a reason.

Suddenly, moonlight shone from tall windows and I found myself standing in the old portrait hallway. Like I had before in a dream about this place, I walked right over to my namesake's portrait. Zelda looked down on me with her ocean blue eyes. My hands felt heavy and I looked down and saw that "Tales of Termina" was resting in my palms.

I tried to give the book back, my subconscious remembering what happened last time I opened that book during a dream. Zelda shook her head at me and crossed her arms, silently insisting that I take the book and open it up.

My throat thickened with apprehension as my fingers peeled back the edges of the yellowing pages.

The book fell open to the missing pages of the story "The Two Dancing Giants." I expected to see pictures of the terrible mask, Majora's Mask, come flying out of the book again but I saw something different.

Majora's mask was there, but so was Fierce Deity's Mask. The vacuous black eyes stared at me angrily. I flipped the page and to my surprise, a fully formed Majora and Fierce Deity were there. The images had come to life and they were battling one another, dueling to the death. I shut the book, too scared to see the outcome of the battle. For some reason, I feared the moment that Asclepius would come and curse them. This book kept haunting my dreams. For what reason? I looked up to Zelda's portrait to ask her, but she was not there.

She was standing right in front of me! I jumped back in fright. Zelda held out her hands to steady me, but I was just out of her reach. I tried to speak to her and ask her how she had gotten out of her frame, but my words would not form. My mouth struggled to say anything. Zelda turned away from me and walked right up to her portrait. She stared at it for a second, then turned around and gestured for me to follow.

I obeyed, curious and nervous. When I was beside her, Zelda put her pale, dainty hands against the ornate, golden frame of the portrait and she pushed. The frame swung aside easily, like a gate on a hinge. I thought that there was a secret passage way behind the picture, but there was nothing besides a plain stone wall.

Yet I was not to be disappointed. Zelda wrapper her fingers around my wrist and with her free hand she was pointing excitedly at a stone that was slightly discolored. I did not know what she was trying to say. Exasperated, Zelda let go of my wrist and with both hands she pried the stone loose.

It fell to the floor with a soundless thud. A black hole gaped open like a mouth where the brick once was. Zelda grazed her fingers at the edges of the hole and she locked her blue eyes with mine.

She wanted me to put my hand in there. Something I needed was in that hole.

Apprehensive and excited, I raised my hand and led my trembling fingers to the mouth of the hole. Zelda leaned in close. She was excited too.

The shadow of the space barely darkened my fingers before a loud screech interrupted my dream. In an instant the scene was gone and I was back in my bed.

I was afraid that I was the one screaming again, but to my relief and fright, it was not me this time. It was Midna. She was standing in the doorway and yelling all sorts of unrepeatable curses at me.

For whatever reason, she decided to come visit me in my room. Under normal circumstances, she was perfectly welcome to see me in my private chambers anytime, but Midna had chosen a very bad morning to do such a thing. She had seen Fierce Deity and I in the room together. Though he was lying on the couch and I in my bed, the scene did not look so innocent as I had hoped. Her mind probably jumped to terrible conclusions and now she was making her displeasure known to the world.

Fierce Deity had already jumped out of the bed and was shoving his feet into his gigantic boots. When I saw him reach for his sword, I knew exactly what he intended to do with it. His dormant bloodlust had reached a breaking point and a duel with Midna was overdue. With a graceful leap, Fierce Deity practically flew as he scrambled over the bed, not wasting a second to get to his enemy. I saw a wicked, violent smile smeared over his face.

All the progress we had made together was gone. He was the angry, bloodthirsty man in the forest who just ached to fight Midna. This was his golden opportunity.

Midna did not see this coming. He was much too fast, faster than I could believe. He swung his sword and out of it came a flash of light. It cut through the air and caught Midna in the stomach. She was thrown off her feet and into the hallway. I heard her body hit the opposite wall with a crunch.

Fierce Deity laughed gleefully and then darted out of the room after her. I heard Midna scream at him.

Sheets caught my feet as I tried to get out of bed as fast as I could. I needed to stop this fight. There was no way that Midna could go against a god of war and fare well. There would be no light spirits to revive her again if Fierce Deity had his way with her.

And she would be fighting against Link. What would happen to him if Fierce Deity were hurt?

The sounds of a brawl filled the corridor. Midna was holding her own against the Fierce Deity. Her face was transformed with the heat of battle. An irate snarl twisted her exotic face into an unpleasant demon. Fierce Deity was just smiling. The fight exhilarated him. Every fiber in his body longed to be apart of such senseless violence. He had been ready to lash out at the first person that antagonized him and Midna had made herself such an easy target.

A cold burst of Twilight magic flew past me as Midna hurled a fistful at her adversary. He easily dodged it and countered it with another burst of light from his sword. The hallway was scorched by the beam, but Midna blocked it with her magic.

"What sort of black arts do you practice, witch" taunted Fierce Deity. "What sort of pathetic magic will stand against the might of a god?"

I ran down the hallway, not caring if they saw me or wondered what I was doing. Fierce Deity raised his sword, running towards Midna with all of his might. I stepped in front of her, blocking whatever attack he wanted to smite her with.

I prayed that the he would not let his bloodlust harm me. Fierce Deity took one look at me and stopped in his tracks, just a few feet away from where Midna and I stood.

Midna tried to push me aside, but I was using my own magic to hold her back.

"ZELDA!" Bellowed the Fierce Deity. "DO NOT STAND IN MY WAY!"

"I will not let you harm her," I answered boldly.

Fierce Deity did not like that at all. He took his sword and thrust it deeply into the stone floor. All that energy needed to go somewhere. The floor of my castle could handle it much better than the flesh of Midna. The white giant, in a fit of frustration, turned around and stomped down the hallway, leaving his sword in the ground. I could hear him muttering viciously under his breath.

A painful smack hit the back of my head and I saw little silver stars swirling around my vision.

I turned around just in time to see Midna's hand slicing through the air, coming right for my face. A door to our right was open and before she could land her blow, I pushed her into the adjacent room. She howled with fury as we fell to the floor.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" She screamed as we hastily stood up. "YOU WERE WITH HIM! WITH THE ENEMY! YOU SWORE THAT YOU HAD NO FEELINGS FOR HIM! YOU LIAR!"

All the wishful arguments from before that I had used to justify my feelings for the Fierce Deity seemed like a pathetic excuse now.

"Nothing happened…" I lamely began, but Midna would never believe that. She was in hysterics, emotionally charged, and unwilling to listen to anything I said. What right did I have to make her understand me?

"Link," she was saying. "Link…I need you, I need you so badly right now." She pitifully held her face in her hands and her words were muffled. I tried one more time to comfort her, but she pushed me away.

"NO! I don't want you! You're making everything worse! I want Link!" She demanded.

"Midna, please! Let me help you!" I begged.

"The only way you can help is to get that MAN to take off the mask, even if it's just for a minute! I need to see Link. Zelda, you have no idea how my heart aches to see him." Midna suddenly came close to me.

"I lost him once before, and I cannot believe that I might lose him again. Please Zelda, ask the Fierce Deity if he can take off the mask, just for a moment."

I had failed to mention to her that taking off the mask and putting back on would only accelerate his death. No man could survive Fierce Deity twice. I opened my mouth to tell her, but her imploring face made me hold my tongue. Would it hurt to ask him to remove the mask?

"**Absolutely not!" **The Fierce Deity was sulking around the Throne Room when I found him and asked if he would be willing to take off the mask so Midna could see Link.

My request was not well received.

"I told you already that if I took off the mask and then put it on the same person, the life would be taken quicker! Do you want him to die faster?"

Fierce Deity was irritated at me. He towered over me frighteningly and glared down. I felt intimidated by him, much like I had when we first met.

"Please," I said, undeterred by his temper. "Surely it cannot be too harmful for Link if the mask was only off for a few moments. It cannot be as bad as you think?"

Fierce Deity crossed his arms and turned his back to me.

"Curse you, Zelda," he growled.

"Why? Why are you cursing me?"

"Because you are relentless in wanting to know every detail about things that are none of your business until you force the truth to come out!" He raised his voice and the room became still. He was still furious from the encounter. That reason did nothing to ease the sting of his words though. I said nothing in return. Fierce Deity must have sensed my sudden change in mood, for he looked back at me and he frowned.

"I should not have spoken to you like that. I have trusted you with the story of my past and I should continue to put my trust in you. Please forgive me for doubting you and for treating you harshly. You deserve far better than this…"

Fierce Deity walked over to me and he grabbed my shoulders. His face was inches from mine.

"I lied to you about that. It was too dangerous for me to take off the mask back then because I did not trust that you to make sure Link put the mask back on. It is true that Link will die if I do not take the mask off, but he can put it on again as many times as he likes before it kills him. I just said that so you would not bother me about it ever again, but I guess I have no room to hide anything from you anymore."

I was appalled!

"Of course you have no room to lie anymore!" A guilty pang hit me. How could I be angry at his lies when I myself had lied to Midna?

"Alright then. If you CAN take off the mask without endangering Link, then will you? I promise that I will see to it that you are restored."

Fierce Deity did not answer immediately. I was still afraid that Link could be hurt, but I still foolishly trusted the lying giant. His soul did not lie to me.

"Fine," he snapped. "I will take it off for five minutes, but if you do not make Link put my mask back on, I wish the worst of luck on your life."

We left the Throne Room and I sought out Midna. She would be in the same room that I left her in, hopefully, if she had not decided to abandon the Light World for good and return to the Twilight Realm. I would not blame her if she did.

We found her right where I had left her. She was leaning against the wall and nervously tapping her thumb against her teeth. When Fierce Deity and I walked in, she cut her eyes at us and the tension of the moment filled the room.

"So," she hissed. "Take off that mask."

Fierce Deity begrudgingly lifted his fingers to his face. I watched as he brushed strands of colorless hair away and pinched the edge of his strong jaw. I wondered if the transformation back into Link would be as dramatic as the one into Fierce Deity.

Fierce Deity tugged at the edge of his jaw, but nothing was happening. His brow furrowed and his lips formed into a frown. Inside, his heart began to pound a little faster.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, feeling his rising concern. Midna came over to use and anxiously tapped her foot on the floor.

Ignoring us, Fierce Deity continued to rub and pinch the skin where the edges of the mask should be. He was deeply alarmed. I could feel it. Even his expressionless eyes were telling a story. Midna could sense that something was terribly wrong.

"What's happening?" She asked nervously. "Why aren't you taking the mask off?"

"Because I cannot!" He snapped.

"What?" Whispered Midna. Her voice was small and scared. Her eyes grew fearful and she looked desperate. "What do you mean you can't?"

"The edges of the mask have sealed to Link's face, meaning that Link cannot take it off and neither can I." He said so bluntly, so carelessly. He was furious and scared.

Fierce Deity was scared. Not even he knew what this meant.

"Did you know that this could happen?" I asked, my fears rising with the Fierce Deity's. If he was scared, then I knew that there was a reason to be.

"Did I know that this man's soul would mesh with mine and meld my mask to his face? No Zelda, I did not know that this would happen. Never before has a man had my mask on for so long that I would have known what would happen to him, to us."

"You are the master of the mask!" I argued loudly. "You should know how your own curse works!"

"I was not created as a mask, I was created as a god!" He growled back at me. Fierce Deity brushed past me and he began to pace back and forth across the room.

"What will happen to you and Link now?" asked Midna, who was surprisingly keeping calmer than the rest of us.

"I do not know," admitted Fierce Deity. "If we are connected to the point where our very souls cannot separate, then I am afraid that not even breaking my curse could free us without one or the other dying." Fierce Deity stopped his pacing and his eyes met with mine. In a small voice for such a powerful man, he asked one more question.

"If Link dies, will my soul die with him?"

He was afraid; vulnerable and very fearful of what could happen to him. His own curse was a complete mystery to him.

"We will still try," I encouraged gently. "Hope is not all lost. Even if you are melded with Link's soul, then there must be a way to free you and break your curse. Do not give up."

"I won't let you give up," snarled Midna.

Thank you for that uplifting statement, Midna. We could not go on without you.

Fierce Deity shook his head and sighed. It was another one of those heavy sighs that said more than words ever could.

"I am sorry," he breathed. "I am sorry for putting this upon you two. I am sorry for using this man's soul in such an invasive way. I do not deserve to be freed. I am afraid that nothing now will work, but we can only hope. We have an hour until noon. Let us leave soon for Termina."

**A stalemate had formed **between Midna and myself. The fact that I at least tried to reunite her with Link had shown that I was not as selfish and evil as she thought that I was.

She was still not acting kindly towards me though. I spent the remaining hour before noon to ready myself for the journey. Fierce Deity instructed me not to pack, so I trusted that he would provide us with what we needed. I donned a plain dress made with thick, warm fabric and a pair of hardy boots. Midna refused my offer of warmer clothes than her thin robe. The cloak that Uli had given her would work just fine, she said.

Less than half an hour remained before we were to meet Fierce Deity in the Courtyard. Midna and I silently made our way through the Castle, the hallways that were free of too many curious servants.

Fate led us to the Portrait Hallway. Midna took in the eerily staring paintings with apprehension. I gave them hardly a glance, at least not until I reached Zelda's portrait.

"Wait!" I cried out, my voice shattering the peaceful silence of the hallway.

"What?" Midna jumped as I threw my arm out to stop her. "Do you have a problem, Zelda?"

She looked at the portrait to her left, the one that I was gaping at.

"Is that you?" Midna asked with surprise.

"No, that is not me," I answered reverently. "That is my ancestor, the woman whose name I was given and who held the Triforce of Wisdom before me. She has been coming to me in my dreams."

"Oh," said Midna, finally interested in something enough to forget how much she hated me at the moment. "What do you think she wants to tell you?"

I reach out and touched the ornate frame of her portrait, just like she had done in my dream.

"I am not entirely sure. When I was sleeping earlier today, I dreamed that she pushed this frame aside…" My hand pushed the frame. It swung open as easily as it had when Zelda did it in my dream. Midna gasped.

My heart was pounding with the thrill of discovery. My dream was coming true! Zelda wanted me to do this!

"Midna!" I exclaimed. "Look for a stone that is a different color than the rest!"

"There! That one there! It's a little darker than the others!" She was pointing right at a brick that was a few shades darker gray than the ones around it.

"Perfect! I think that may be the one." I rushed to the wall and began to pry the stone away out of the hole that I knew was behind it.

"The one for what Zelda? What are you doing?"

"Just wait and see," I grunted as the stone stayed stuck in the wall. Midna reached her hands in to help me pull the brick out. In a second, there was the same gaping hole, like a black mouth in the stone.

My hand shot into the hole without hesitation.

Midna was excited. "What's in there?" She asked animatedly. I was glad for our moment of peace, but I was too anxious to see what was hiding in the hole to think about anything else.

My fingers ran over rough, dusty stone until I felt something soft. I jumped at the change of texture, but I quickly drew my fingers around the object. I pulled my hand from the hole to examine what I found.

It looked like a small pile of rags in my hand, but the object felt heavier than that. Besides, Zelda didn't speak to me in my dreams just to give me a pile of rags!

Midna and I were silent with anticipation as I unwrapped the rotting cloth. Blue gleamed through the rags as I came nearer to the core. My breath hitched in my throat as the last piece of cloth fell away, revealing a glossy, bright blue ocarina

Zelda! That girl still had some tricks up her royally tailored sleeves!

"What is that?" Midna asked, not realizing what I was holding in my palms.

"This…this is the Ocarina of Time…" I said, not even sure what to feel or think. "This has been missing for a century! Queen Zelda said that it had been lost when the Hero of Time battled Ganondorf, but she must have lied to protect it from anyone who would use it for evil…she hid it away and she wanted me to find it!"

Midna looked disappointed. I guess she was hoping for Zelda to give me some easy answer to free Link from Fierce Deity and destroy that mask for eternity.

"Well…why do you need that little thing?" She asked, gesturing to the Ocarina.

"I am not clear on that," I said. Something caught my eye. A piece of something yellowish was sticking out of the mouthpiece. I bent down and tried to pry it out with my fingernails.

"There is something here, Midna. Something is stuck inside the Ocarina."

Midna did not say anything. I felt an electric apprehension suddenly fill the room and every hair on my neck was raised.

There was a rush of air, but no sound. "Midna?" I was too afraid to turn around. Something was going wrong.

"Oh there you are Princess Zelda, my lovely wife to be!"

I almost screamed! That was Taran's voice! I whirled around and saw Midna standing next to me in a strange position. She looked like she was ready to pounce on him, but she was not moving.

She was paralyzed by Taran's magic. I shoved the Ocarina into my cloak and turned to face Taran.

"You have no right to be here," I said with a wavering voice. I feared the Ikana, the magic of Majora that he wielded. Fierce Deity was nowhere in sight. He could not fight for me.

"Oh, do you think all that matters right now?" he asked, just as pompous and arrogant as ever.

"Taran, you have committed crimes against the Throne of Hyrule! By coming back to my Kingdom you have forfeited your life!" I raised my arm to try and catch him with my magic.

He laughed, an oily, unpleasant sound, and my arm froze solid in mid air.

"Oh no, no, Princess. You are not so in charge as you may think."

I could not move my arm. In a panic, I began to scream for Fierce Deity, praying that he would somehow hear me.

"You can wail all you like, HE is not here to save you this time."

I struggled in vain to free myself from his power, but Taran was too strong for me. The Ikana magic was like nothing I had ever encountered.

Taran stalked over to me. I fell to my knees as his magic spread through my body. Not even my voice was able to utter a sound.

The Ambassador of Termina stood over me, smiling with devious glee. He shoved his hand roughly on my face and I feared that he was going to smother me.

No, he was using magic to subdue me. My mind became faint and everything was growing black. I inhaled a deep breath before I felt Taran's spell overcome me. Fierce Deity had not heard my cries. He was not coming to save me. I was Taran's victim.

* * *

Ohhhhhhhhhhh nooooo! FRAKING TARAN!

Honestly, when I was re-reading this chapter, before I reposted and edited it, I was really bothered how I portrayed Zelda originally. She was supposed to actually sleep next to FD again, despite her conflicted feelings and Minda being upset with her and she's pretty much lying to her friend that she's trying to help. It didn't sit well with me, a few years older and a little more mature than I was when I first wrote this story, and I wanted to change it. What you just read is my changes and I think that it's much better and it portrays Zelda as flawed and confused, but she still thinks of her friend and she doesn't carelessly do what she wants...at least I hope it seems this way. ANYWAYS, I hope that y'all liked it! Cliffhangers are mean, I know.

Until next Friday... :)


	14. Sinner

Here's the next chapter of Healing the Moon! Please enjoy and happy reading :)

* * *

**My conscious was swarming** with thoughts and images, random pictures of my life surfacing while my body succumbed to the Ikana curse. It was a feverish delusion that was upon me. I could not recognize my own life. Nothing made sense in my mind. I felt as though I were looking at the memories of another person.

Then a memory grabbed my attention and I latched onto it like a fish on a hook. This particular scene happened months before Fierce Deity entered my life.

I did not mean to overhear their conversation; it just happened. I was quickly walking through the broad hallways of Hyrule Castle. Thoughts of my upcoming duties, which included a meeting with a Zora delegate that I had been dreading for weeks, were buzzing through my mind like bees in a field of flowers.

There was a turn in the hallway up ahead that lead to the same cozy alcove that I had confronted Midna at earlier in my waking life. It boasted of a plush window seat, only big enough for two people to squeeze on it together. It was the favorite place of a certain couple that I had invited to stay at my castle for the weekend.

I knew that I should have known better than to go barreling down the corridor without remembering exactly WHICH corridor my feet were misleading me. My busy thoughts tempted my mind to wander, as well as my sense of direction.

I approached the nook with my head in the clouds of regal duties, almost in danger of walking past the couple and awkwardly interrupting their special moment. I was snapped out of my trance by the sound of soft voices drifting from around the corner. My feet stopped their journey and I pressed myself against the wall, realizing how closely I had come to an uncomfortable moment with my two closest friends.

The proper thing to do would have been to turn right around and promptly leave the way that I came, but I could not bring myself to peel my frozen body off the wall. Something in the tones of their murmurings to each other held me rooted to the spot.

I was used to seeing Midna and Link openly show each other affection before, but never had I heard their intimate words exchanged only for them to hear. It felt absolutely forbidden to listen in on such a private conversation between two people in love, but it fascinated me.

So I became a fly on the wall, held a captive witness to a world I had yet to experience.

At first, I could not make out what was being whispered in the alcove, but Midna's words lost their muffled hum and I could hear exactly what she was saying to her precious Hero.

"…As soon as I turned my back, I knew it was a terrible mistake. The look in your eyes when you realized what I had done…it haunted me for months."

Midna, who usually spoke sharply and had a sarcastic edge to her voice, spoke in the most gentle, vulnerable way that my heart clenched at her words. It certainly surprised me to hear such tenderness from the sassy girl. But Midna was not finished with her sweet monologue.

"Link, every time I closed my eyes…all I could see was your blue ones…and the pain that I caused. I loved you then and I knew it, but I still…" Her faltering voice came to a slow halt.

There was silence. I could almost see Link's hand resting lovingly on her cheek, and Midna turning her downcast eyes up at him. He would tell her with his expressive, sapphire eyes that all was forgiven. Then with his other hand, I imagined that he would run it smoothly through her fiery hair and Midna would smile at him. She would raise her lips to his and then…

"Midna, don't…it's all in the past. Just…look to the future. We'll be together. Not even a different world can keep us from that. I love you."

I had never heard Link speak with such sincerity and maturity. The Hero always tended to be the shy one, the one who held back showing affection in public. Midna was always the instigator and Link would calmly reciprocate, but saved what was really in his heart for her, privately. I smiled at Link's words, happy to see a side of him that was usually hidden from most eyes. But a nagging little voice started tickling the back of my mind…

I brushed it aside, leaving it alone for now. I stopped hugging the wall and leaned my back against the cold stone. My hands clasped together over my heart and I closed my eyes.

Thoughts of love and affection danced inside my head, completely eradicating all serious thoughts I had only minutes ago. I had never been in love; I had hardly even been kissed.

Once, when I was a girl of thirteen, a son of an Earl that was close to my age had dared me to kiss him, saying that I would not do it because I was too much of a sissy. Feeling a foolish need to prove myself, I accepted his challenge. The kiss was nothing more than a quick peck that landed mostly on my chin. I did not count it as anything.

Before the days of Zant's invasion, I had hardly given a thought to love at all. There were bold suitors that promised me the moon, sun, and stars, but I barely even noticed their inquiries. I had an entire country to run and I knew that I was qualified to do so without a King by my side.

But something began to chip away at my heart. At first it was nothing more than an occasional reminder of what I lacked, but then Midna returned.

Seeing my dearest friend, Link, fall deeply back in love with the Twilight Princess had turned the reminder into a relentless voice that was bent on shoving my heart into chaos and making me miserable.

I had picked up the habit of tossing and turning at night, thinking about Midna and Link. What they had was something that I was starting to envy. It was not Link that I was jealous of; he belonged to Midna and I was gloriously happy for them.

The problem was that I was alone, and they were not. Their lack of loneliness was what I envied.

My choice to remain single was beginning to press on me. This was not what I really wanted, or what I needed for that matter. My heart, which lay dormant for my entire life, now beat with a fervent need to find what my friends had discovered.

I sighed and began to dwell on what it would be like to be in love. But before my thoughts could wander too far, the fine hairs on the back of my hands stood up and I knew that I was not alone. I opened my eyes with increasing dread and found Link and Midna standing in front of me, their hands clasped so tightly together that it seemed they would never be able to untangle their fingers.

I am sure that my pointed ears were growing red with embarrassment. I had been so consumed in my own little world that I had not even heard them get up and walk down the hall.

Midna had her mouth open like she was about to laugh or say something to ne, but her lips began to creep up into a devilish smile. Her expression said, "Thank you for letting me find you in such a ridiculous pose, Princess." Link had his eyebrows raised, but mostly looked confused as to what I was doing.

"Have we…interrupted something?" The Hero asked, before Midna could ask something a little less tactful.

I shook my head. What was there to interrupt? I had simply been caught daydreaming.

"No Link, you two are fine." I had said before I fled the hallway in embarrassment. My quarters were not too far away. I could hide there for a few hours before night fell. Then I would see them in the morning when this whole mess had been forgotten.

But my plans for escape were to be thwarted by my Twili friend.

"So, what special things wereyou thinking about earlier today, Princess Zelda?" crooned a triumphant-looking Midna as she sauntered into my private chambers less than an hour later. Midna was usually welcome to visit my room anytime at all, seeing as how we close friends, but I was not fully welcoming of her company tonight.

I was sitting on my bed, brushing out my extravagant honey colored hair. I was already dressed in a nightgown, prepared to spend another sleepless night thinking about a love that I did not have.

Midna jumped on my bed, landing right in front of me and I became very intent on making my hair perfectly smooth.

"Tell me, Zelda!" Midna snapped playfully as she snatched the brush from my fingers. I rolled my eyes and retrieved my brush back from the unwelcome intruder.

"Midna, please! Not right now." I retorted and tried resume my brushing. This time Midna rolled her eyes.

"Zelda, come on! I know that you were thinking about somebody! Who is he?" She inquired. Midna leaned so far forward into my face that I almost fell back onto my pillows trying to keep some distance between us.

"Nobody! I wasn't thinking about anybody!" I answered quickly, trying to make Midna back up.

"Not true! You had this sappy look on your face like you were in love or something! TELL ME WHO HE IS!" she yelled happily, with a look of extreme excitement plastered all over her face.

I laughed at her friend's expression, but shook my head. "Midna, I'm telling the truth. There is not anybody…"

Midna's face fell dramatically and she sat down again, giving me back my personal space.

"You need a man, Zelda." She said pensively, nodding her head and letting her red eyes grow distant. I silently agreed.

"Midna…can I confess something?" I asked hesitantly. Midna's eyes mischievously flashed with eagerness and she vigorously nodded yes.

"I overheard you and Link earlier today. I did not intend to, but I did. When I see you two, I really feel a loss, as though a part of me that I never knew existed is not there and when I see you two together, it makes me want to find that missing part. Does that make sense?"

Midna didn't seem to care that I over heard her private moment with Link, but instead tapped her fingers against her chin.

"Zelda, I know how you feel. I'm kind of surprised that you haven't found anybody yet." The Twili cocked her head to the side and contemplated for a few moments.

Then her face crept back into a grin. "I'm glad you finally came to me about this, Zelda. Little Midna is here to help! Let's see…you need a man who is…"

This time, I was the one to lean forward and eagerly wait with baited breath for Midna to speak.

"First off, he needs to be exciting, because sometimes you're a little boring!" Midna spat out. I gasped in mock horror, but I had to agree with Midna. Sometimes the role of Princess made me feel stale and dry.

"Secondly, he needs to be different than you. He needs to be wild with a free spirit. He needs to be the kind of person who can take your hand and break you out of the Princess mold. He has to help set you free. You need that; you're too set in your ways. Also, he has to be a mystery. You shouldn't be able to figure him out completely. He needs to challenge your intelligence and make you see things differently…he has to the one to open your eyes and help you fly. And of course has to be handsome! You're a beautiful girl and you need somebody who's just as pretty as you."

As Midna stopped her description, I realized that I had been hugging a pillow close to my chest. Midna herself had fallen back onto the bed and was looking up at the ornate canopy above her. Both of us girls sighed at the same time and our faces broke out into dreamy smiles.

"He sounds dangerous…can you find him for me?" I asked, wanting this mysterious stranger to come knocking on my door at this instance.

Midna shook her head. "I can't find him Zelda. He'll find you."

Indeed he had. He found me in the most unexpected and unacceptable of ways. Everything that Midna had described to me was all that Fierce Deity was and was not. He was everything and nothing that I needed…dangerous, a mystery, exciting, yet angry, violent, and under a curse that would take the life of a beloved friend.

The numbness of the Ikana magic was starting to recede from my conscious. My mind became clearer the more I thought about the ironic significance of that memory. Yet now was no time for self-pity or wallowing in dead end love. I was awakening! Bit by bit, I could feel myself gain control over my body again.

A rocking motion shifted my weight back and forth. Pinpoints of light dotted the darkness of my vision, though I could not see well enough to make out my whereabouts. I blinked my eyes hard once and everything became clearer.

I was in the back of a wooden wagon. Holes in the slats of decaying wood let in beams of light and shone on the narrow dusty floor. Everything creaked and groaned as a pair of unseen horses, no doubt guided by my kidnapper, drew the wagon to our destination.

I tried to stand up, too late realizing that my ankles and wrists were tied and bound. My own magic would not release me; the ropes that tied me were fortified with Ikana. Even a cloth was roughly knotted around my head, covering my mouth and preventing me from making a sound.

It was not long after I awoke that the steady rhythm of the wagon unexpectedly stopped. My ears were attuned to the slightest sounds.

A pair of feet was crunching through the snow. It walked back and forth, the owner of the feet never deciding where it should stay. The bits on the horses' reins jingled as they shook their heads. I could hear no voices. Nothing but the moving feet and the horses made a noise. The pressing silence was making me nervous. I suddenly felt panicked. The walls of the tiny wagon were suffocating me! I had to get out!

A thin, ragged piece of cloth served as a makeshift door to the back of the wagon. I shifted my body around, struggling to move my bound limbs and somehow get myself out of this trap that I was in. With as deep a breath as I could manage with the rag tied over my mouth, I thrust myself forward and went rolling out the back of the wagon.

I landed unceremoniously on the hard, snowy ground. Strangely, I did not feel much pain from the fall. Instead, I moved to lie on my back and observe my surroundings.

Perfectly straight pine trees towered above me. Their branches were so thick with pine needles that I could hardly see the sky peeking through. Only a thin layer of snow dusted the ground. A few flakes of snow wafted through the noiseless air. Not a breath of wind stirred through the place. Everything was perfectly still. This forest was too tranquil, too unencumbered by the passing of time or seasons.

I was in the forest between Termina and Hyrule, the mysterious woods between the worlds.

"I knew that my power over you wouldn't hold for very long once we got into this place…" The abrupt sound of a voice shattered the unnatural silence.

I craned my neck to look over my feet and I saw Taran. He was sitting down on the ground, a position that seemed so humble for a self-exalted man like himself. A roaring fire was in front of him, looking as if it had been conjured up by Ikana. There were no logs that were burning, just a spit of fire on the ground. The flames themselves had a violet hue. Taran's deep-set, brown eyes were staring at me over the top of the flickering flames. They looked empty, devoid of the arrogance and malice that I had seen in them last. Only tiredness and a hint of sadness remained in what used to be very lively eyes.

"No magic of any kind stays strong once it enters this forest," Taran repeated dully. "I just hope that those ropes hold you until we arrive in Termina."

Taran adjusted his seat on the ground to get a better view of me from around the fire.

"Night does not touch this place. No time passes. No creatures live or die. Wounds do not heal. Magic does not work. Flora does not blossom or wither. Nothing changes. Everything stays the same." Taran's elegant brow furrowed and a dark, troubled frown crossed over his face.

"Even the soul ceases to move. Memories of my past come back, because I am not able to bury them with present thoughts." His voice was melancholy and regretful. I had never even known that Taran could be so…human. He was not yet finished in his haunting monologue.

"Every time I pass through this place, I remember things that I try so hard to forget. This forest does strange things to me…"

Suddenly, I wanted him to stop talking. A noise of any sort felt so unwelcome and dangerous in the quiet woods, especially when he was speaking ill about the forest. The whole placed seemed to have a presence and it could listen to us, judge us…

Taran shook his head and stood to his fullest height. A part of his old self seemed to have come back, ready to replace the soft Taran with the arrogant one.

"You will notice that there is no storm here, Princess Zelda," said Taran, trying to regain his boastful appearance. "In fact there is no more storm anywhere but your land. The blizzard in Hyrule is still raging and it will continue to rage until I say. It ended here as soon as we came into the forest."

The man came walking towards me, speaking as he came closer.

"I have no more need for the storm in Termina. You see, at first I had this plan to use the storm to keep you and your disgraceful god out of Termina, but then I saw how cowardly that was and I cannot be seen as a coward, oh no! I came up with something better, my love."

The toes of his boots were barely touching my shoulders as he loomed over me, looking down with a trace of his haughty smile.

"I _want _the fallen god of the moon to come after me. I want to use your capture to lure him into my domain, where my magic is strong and I will have the advantage. The storm will not weaken him, but it will destroy any army that tries to follow you here."

I shook my head, trying to tell him that Termina was actually the Fierce Deity's domain. It was his old kingdom, Arkhaos. Taran would stand no chance in what was actually the Fierce Deity's home.

Taran seemed to misunderstand my intentions. He knelt to his knees and ran a cold finger over my cheek.

"Oh yes!" he said softly, slyly. "He will come to save you! He was there for you once, why should he not come again? Why would he not nobly follow you to save you from your kidnapper, only to unknowingly meet his death? Oh he will die. He will die. He will die like he should have thousands of years ago when he fought the cursed battle with the Great Mother, Majora, on that beach. You, my dear, will be the instrument to his belated demise!"

Taran ran his eyes up and down my body, finally seeming to realize that I was out of the wagon.

"What was your great plan when you escaped the wagon? Huh, Zelda? Were you going to surprise me with your dainty Princess magic and curse me into a flower? No. You can do nothing to me."

His hands grabbed one of my arms and my waist. Taran hoisted me over his shoulder and walked me back to the wagon.

"I am a servant of Majora. I am the sole Ikana left in all of Termina. The magic lies within me."

I felt myself being tossed like a sack of flour back into the wagon. Taran pulled back the cloth and looked down at me. Shadows covered his face and I could not see his expression.

"You can do nothing but lie here. Ikana is strong. Next time you wake up, you'll be in a place where my magic is not so weak!"

His palm covered my forehead. The blackness took over once more.

**A castle dominated the night sky; **crumbling turrets pierced the canopy of stars and the highest tower blocked out the light of the crescent moon. Taran had awakened me from my cursed slumber and cut the ropes tied around my feet and unknotted the scarf around my head, though my hands were still bound. I stumbled out of the wagon to the sight of this old castle before us.

"Where have you taken me," I asked hoarsely. My voice had not been used in hours.

He smiled back at me and I shivered. His smile was not to be trusted.

"Welcome to my old home, Princess. This ancient castle of Ikana may not be so esteemed or grand as yours, but I assure you, it will be called your home soon enough." Taran tightly grasped my arm and roughly dragged me to follow him into the castle. Gone was any trace of the humility and vulnerability of before. Ambassador Taran had returned in all his elegant, egotistical glory.

"I thought that you lived in Clock Town—"

"Please," he hissed. "Do not even speak of that asinine place. I am forced to reside there to uphold my duties. Here though…" he gazed up at the crumbling structure. "Here is where I will call my home. This is the place where I once lived, when I was a younger man. When I wed my first wife, we came here to visit when I tired of the city. It was also where my family discovered their heritage."

"Long ago," he began in a breathless, excited voice. "This old place was haunted by the old king of the Ikana Kingdom, the last King in fact. The castle was more of a dungeon than anything else! That was until my own father came exploring here and discovered the truth of his Ikana heritage. The old spirit that lived here told him what he was. He then threw his life into discovering more about Ikana. Then he passed the knowledge onto me, his only child. When I was still a boy, he came back to this place and sought to restore it back to it's former grandeur, though he did not succeed much."

The archway of the main entrance was littered with broken bits of stone that had fallen from above. Taran pushed aside a pair of weathered doors.

"Now I am here to fulfill what he failed. I, the sole bearer of the Ikana race and the heir to the last Ikana King, will make this place the castle of my new kingdom."

Blood red carpet seeped out over the entire floor. Walls of black stone darkened the room and only a few candelabra lit the dark corners as we walked inside. Right in front of us was an old marble staircase that led to a balcony which wrapped around the perimeter of the room, and that balcony lead to another floor, and another, and another, going up for five floors total. I looked up and tried to find the ceiling, but the fifth balcony faded into darkness. The poor light of the candelabra would not illuminate the high shadows.

"You like it?" Taran asked mockingly. I looked at him and made no response. I was at a loss for words.

"I see you are speechless. Good. Then you must love it. You should, for it will be your home."

I found my tongue. "You keep saying that I shall call this home. What do you mean by this?" I asked fearfully.

"Do not think that I have given up my plans to take Hyrule for myself! When I have gotten rid of the Fierce Deity menace, then I shall curse you and the Council once more. A marriage agreement will be made. You will all do my bidding. My home in that pathetic Clock Town will not suffice for the new King of Termina and Hyrule, and his lovely, obedient Queen. We will stay here to live out the remainder of our marriage."

"You mean the remainder of my slavery!" I cried out. I ripped myself out of his grasp. "I shall be your wife by force, and my mind will be lost to a curse! How can this be a marriage?"

Taran grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. I was sickened at the feel of his body pressed against mine. "You'll be fine, Princess," crooned Taran. "I will make sure that you're happy, just as long as the curse holds up!"

He laughed. It was a chilling sound that echoed over the cold, black stones and into the dark abyss of the ceiling.

Away we went up the old marble stairs. My feet slipped on the thick layer of dust covering the steps. With a tight grip on my arm, Taran led me around the first balcony to a second set of stairs. We wound our way up the floors in a fast, feverish pace. At the fifth floor, Taran changed course and we went down a dimly lit corridor. Sconces lit up greasy flames as we rushed by. Gauzy cobwebs stretched over the rotting beams of the ceiling and the carpeted floor beneath our feet creaked. We passed by a dozen doors that were bolted shut by rusty locks.

At the very end of the corridor was a door that opened at Taran's command. Yet there was also an old painting. For a petrifying moment I thought that I was looking at the portrait of the old Zelda, but it was not she.

It was another woman. Her raven black hair flowed down in luxurious waves and she looked upon my wretched self with cat-like green eyes set in a thin, solemn face. A thick, brocaded dress of an outdated style was set upon her bony frame.

Taran caught me staring at the painting and he slowed down his furious pace, stopping long enough for me to really take a good look at the painting.

"Ah, I see that you have found the picture of my old wife, Melinoe. She's the mother of my useless son, and she was rather useless herself. I find you to be much more desirable and valuable," he said with a sly voice. I glared back at him and saw that he was staring at me hungrily.

Anger boiled up in me. "I would rather rot than fulfill any desire of yours," I spat hotly.

Taran only laughed.

"Oh my, my! You are feisty when angered, my dear. My wife was never so spirited. She was rather compliant, rather boring. It was like being married to a corpse. You might find it funny to know that she died the exact same day as your parents did…"

With that, Taran pulled me through the open door. He began to dash up a winding stone staircase with me in tow.

"Taran!" I yelled, desperate for him to cease his running. "Taran! Your wife died the same day as my parents?"

As in the corridor, sconces lit up with tiny flames as we made our way up the dark stairs. Windows cut into the stone would appear every so often, showing the night world below. Further and further up we traveled and Taran turned a deaf ear to my increasingly frantic inquiries about his wife's death.

We finally reached the top of the tower. A small landing with nothing more than a molding bench and a tall, narrow window greeted us. There was a door directly across from us. Taran practically ran to it.

His fingers tightened their grip on my arm as he flung the door open. I was shoved onto a large bed. My heart beat so fast that I could hardly breathe! What was to happen to me now? Was I to become this sorcerer's Bride right here and now?

The door slammed behind us. Taran slowly turned to me. There was an eerie triumph in his face. I fearfully watched him as he walked right to the bed. His hand stroked the heavy scarlet velvet bedcover.

"I have not been here in years…not since the day my wife died in this very room, on this very bed." He said reverently. My throat felt tight. I was lying in the deathbed of another woman?

"What a momentous day that was for me," Taran whispered. I almost thought that he was speaking to himself more than he was to me.

"Your wife…" I began in a quivering voice. "She died here in this room?"

Looking around me, I saw that the room itself was very small. The bed took up much of the space. The walls were draped in threadbare tapestries. The colors had lost much of their vibrancy and only pale, washed out scenes remained. I could not even tell what the pictures were supposed to be.

Three, rectangular windows that ended in a triangular point were placed in the stone walls where there was no tapestry. Old silver candelabra, now tarnished and stained with wax, were placed on either side of the bed. An enormous, ornately carved headboard for the bed took up most of the wall behind me.

My eyes looked up above. No canopy covered the bed. Instead the ceiling was painted. The scene above me depicted shapes and scenes that I did not recognize. It was an elaborate, wild painting that was oddly sinister. I could never be able to describe what I saw, though for some reason, I do not like to speak of it now.

"Yes, Princess," said Taran. "The very hour your parents left this mortal world, Melinoe followed them into eternity."

I sat up to look Taran right in the eye. No longer was I afraid.

I was angry.

"What ailed your wife? What took her life?" I demanded.

Taran smiled and picked up my hand. His fingers traced over my knuckles. I tried to withdraw, but he held on tightly.

"A disease," he answered with delight. "A horrid pestilence of the ancient times came upon her two months before her death. If I do recall correctly, it was the very same night that your parents took ill."

"How do you know the details of my parent's illness?" I said with venom. Taran was harboring some horrible detail. There was no reason for him to know the hour that my parents became sick. Yet something did not set well with me. A disease of ancient times? What did Taran mean by that?

My voice grew shrill. "And what exact disease did your wife die from?"

"What did your parents die from?" Taran quickly asked. I was taken aback.

"The physicians said that it was a rare and fatal disease that had not been seen in centuries. It did not really have a name. There were no known survivors, but I still hoped that they would survive…" As I spoke, something began to dawn on me.

"Do you know of this disease?" I ventured. Taran had let go of my hand and he was now stroking his small beard.

"There was once a sickness that plagued the land of Termina. When the Ikana Kingdom was strong, enemies of that great land would fall ill from this disease. There was no cure. There were never survivors. It became known as the "Ikana Bane." Many people believed that the magic of the Ikana created the sickness and only the King could control it, so they began to pay homage to the King so that the illness would not fall upon them. Once the Ikana Kingdom fell, there was never again a sign of this disease. The name fell into disuse and nobody remembered what it was called. Not even the most practiced physicians remembered the name. They only know of it through legend. It never again came about in any person, at least not until your parents became sick with it."

"That is strange," I said softly, my voice shaking slightly. "How could my parents have gotten sick with a disease that only the Ikana King could control? There has been no Ikana King for a long, long time."

Out of nowhere, Taran fiercely grabbed my chin and pulled me to him. His expression was alive with triumph and wickedness. I whimpered as his fingernail dug into my skin, but he paid me no heed.

"Are you so thick, Princess, that you cannot see whose hand dealt your precious mother and father their deaths? There may be no formal "King" of the Ikana, but there is one still one man who can perform the curse! He might as well be the King, for he is the last Ikana bearer alive!"

"You!" I spat out. My lips could hardly form words. My throat was too constricted from shock.

"YES! ME! I killed your parents with the Ikana Bane!" Taran roared with pride. "I did it! When the night was young, I sent them a curse. Their bodies easily succumbed to the magic, for they were weak within an hour of receiving it. Then I knew it would be two months, two cycles of the moon before the disease claimed their lives! Oh how glorious that day was! I struck down the mighty King of Hyrule. Not by a war, not by the sword, but by the magic of Ikana!"

Hot tears filled my eyes. I wanted to scream. I longed to lunge at this man and claw his eyes out. Never before had such violence soiled my soul, but I could not quell the fury inside me. This man was the cause of my parents' death and here he was, victoriously gloating about it before me. My mother and father were not the only victims of his crime; I felt the chasm of loss every single day.

I found my arm raised and my hand flying through the air. With a sharp smack that echoed through the room, my palm struck Taran across his cheek. Silence hung heavy in the air. Taran's brown eyes started at me with surprise, his mouth hanging open.

My hands became fists and suddenly they were all over the place, beating Taran with every ounce of strength I could muster. I heard myself yelling, but I did not even know what I was saying.

"Enough!" I heard him yell. My mind was muddled with anger and I barely even registered his voice. His hands managed to grab mine and I was pushed back onto the bed. Taran's hideous face loomed above mine. A small bit of blood oozed from where my fist had split his lip.

"What is wrong with you?" He yelled.

What was wrong with me? My parents were murdered and the man who proudly dealt them their death was asking me what was wrong with me?

"Why?" That was all I managed to say. Accusations, curses, and hateful speeches wanted to pour out of me, yet all I could do was croak out that one pitiable word. My whole body was quivering with anger, fear, and a crippling despair.

"It was all for you, my darling," he murmured devilishly. "I had a plan, an infallible plan to unite with the ruling family of Hyrule."

"What?" I hissed like a snake. "Tell me!"

Taran pulled me until we were both sitting up on the bed. His hands were still wrapped around my wrists like vices. I found myself unable to move them at all.

He had me bound by Ikana.

"Well you see, I had a son, but he was much too young for the Princess of Hyrule to marry. Kael would be of no use to me and I was already married. There was no way for me to rebuild the kingdom of Ikana, be king of Termina and Hyrule without making some sacrifices. So my best plan was to get rid of those standing in my way of you!" Taran pulled me closer, so close that I could smell his musky breath.

"When you came of age, I set my plan into motion. Your parents would die first. I sent the curse on them. In the same hour I called Melinoe, my dutiful wife, to this bedroom. Our bedroom. I told her that she was to play a part in helping me to greatness. Ever so willing to please me, she promised to help me in any way she could. The Ikana Bane was placed upon her. She would be the second to die for you. If I was a married man, my plan could not work.

Two months did Melinoe lie upon this bed in agony as the Bane ripped through her body. Kael, our son, stayed by her bedside and prayed to the four gods that she would live. What a pathetic little boy he was. He did not know that his mother was helping his father gain power, not did he recognize the Ikana magic in her. I let him stay there by her side while I preformed my duties as Mayor. Nobody but myself knew what sort of 'tragedy' was happening at my Castle."

"Did she know? Did she know what you were using her for?" I cried.

"Would it have mattered if she did?" Taran asked mockingly. "She would have been used for that purpose either way!"

I had no words to respond. This was all too tragic.

I thought of Kael sitting by his mother's bed. A small boy with tufts of jet-black hair kneeling on the floor, his green eyes crying the tears that only a child can cry. I imagined his little boyish voice echoing over the eerie tapestries, his please unheard and ignored by the gods of Termina. I thought of my own time spent by my parents' bed in the infirmary.

Kael and I had been in the same helpless, mournful position at the same time. Same season. Same reason. A few more tears spilled out and I choked out a sob for our intertwined fates.

"Then the day came where Melinoe died. I knew then that your parents were dead as well. It was time for me to travel to Hyrule. I gave Kael over to a nurse in Clock Town, informing the people that my wife had died of a miscarriage. Our son was too young to give any details, so I knew that my lie would be upheld. So I left Termina, pretending that I was too stricken with mourning to stay.

I traveled as fast as I could through that wretched forest. When I arrived in Hyrule, all people were in a state of mourning. Black was draped everywhere. The people looked as though they had lost a their own parents It was all very dramatic. I rode on to the castle. My plan was to present myself as a grief stricken, sympathetic man who would do all he could to aid the poor, orphaned Princess while she looked for a steward to rule for her until she became a woman. I would tell them of my own wife's sad death, playing off their sympathy. Then I would boldly offer myself to marry the poor Princess in her lonely state, offering comfort and a King to help her rule, instead of letting a steward do it for her. Oh yes, it was brilliant! Then I would have Hyrule as my kingdom to unite with Termina and then the Ikana Kingdom would be renewed!"

"Your plan was in vain," I snarled. "I was crowned Ruling Princess the very moment that my father and mother died."

He snatched my chin in his hand once again and he pulled my face closely to his.

"Yes!" Taran whispered menacingly. "Yes! Oh it was a terrible setback, but I was not to give up. I would not murder my own wife for nothing. No, rather I would bide my time. After that I became highly involved in Hylian politics, working up to the position of Ambassador. When the winter winds blew into Hyrule I knew that it was time. Kael, though not bearing the gift to practice Ikana, had become a channel for my magic. So I came to your Castle to propose marriage to you, which you so boldly refused. I suspected that you would. My second plan was to use my son to curse your Council and force you to marry me."

"Then what?" I asked. "What was your brilliant plan once you succeeded in marrying me?"

"Oh we would be husband and wife and I would come live with you in the Castle, but then you would suddenly fall ill with the same crippling disease that took your poor parents," he said with a smile. "Then your kingdom would be all mine, and you could not do a thing to stop me!"

"You would have me killed the same way that you did my parents!" I screamed. "You were planning to murder me this whole time?"

"At first, yes! You would be the third to die in my plan! Yet now…" His grip on my face became softer and he bent his head to my neck.

"It would be such a waste to shed your blood, lovely girl." He whispered against my skin. "I have had a change of heart. When I kill the god of the moon and curse you and the Council, I think that I will keep you on as my wife. You shall bear me children and I will use you to rebuild the Ikana race. Kael has no purpose for me. He is dead to me. He cannot use magic, so he cannot be my heir. But you…"

Taran ran his lips up and down my neck. I felt my stomach lurch with the urge to vomit. "I can use you," he murmured.

My hands tried to push him away, but he shoved me onto my back. I fought back but he easily pinned my arms against the mattress. He was off the bed, standing over me. A greedy, perverted look flashed in his eyes and he leaned closer to my face.

"You wield a special power. Imagine your magic, gift of the goddesses, intermingled with Ikana. Our children will be like gods themselves. Together we can rebuild the Ikana race, and we can make it so much more…" he breathed.

"You can't do this…" I whispered back. I closed my eyes and all I could see in my mind was my mother, my dear sweet mother, telling that she would turn into a mother bear and protect her little cub, but she could not. She was not here to help me. Nobody was. I was trapped and helpless. I squeezed my eyes tighter and a few tears trickled out. Each second took an age to pass as I expected him to say or do something, but nothing ever happened. Mercifully, Taran let me go and began walking to the door. Relief flooded me. I rolled onto my side and pulled the heavy bedcover in a heap against my chest. Sobs ripped through my throat. Without an ounce of shame, I cried like I had not cried since my parents first became sick.

Hearing the truth about their death was almost as terrible as the moment it happened they left me alone in the world.

"I want you to be yourself when I kill the Fierce Deity. I want you to feel the pain of his death." Taran commanded over my cries. I heard the latch click and the door open.

"Do not think about leaving this room. The door and windows are guarded by Ikana magic. There is no possible way for you to escape. Just sit here until I have need of you. It will be soon."

I ignored him completely. It did not matter to me what he just said. I suppose he expected me to beg for my life or challenge his authority, because he waited for half a second while I lay on the bed, sobbing.

Taran finally scoffed at me with a disgusted noise. With that, I heard him exit the room and slam the door behind him. I did not care about what he said or did or wanted. I was too despondent.

My poor, innocent parents! They met their end at the hands of a wicked sorcerer! All they were was innocent victims in a plot for some man to use me! I felt guilty. It was because of me that they were dead!

I cried until I could not form any more tears. I wept until my throat was aching. I sobbed until my lungs were empty and I lay gasping for breath on the bed, the bed that Melinoe had died in. That too was because of me.

I did not want to touch it any longer. My hands clawed the bed sheets until I reached the edge of the mattress and I let myself fall onto the floor. Like a blind prisoner, I crawled over the dusty stones until I reached one of the windows.

A cool breeze of night air flowed through and dried the tears on my face. I looked up at the stars. The constellations here were different than the ones in Hyrule. My eyes found the crescent moon and my heart sank.

The moon was waning. Its death was upon us. Link had a few more nights to live before his life was forfeit to the Fierce Deity.

I thought of both of them; Link's kind face, his strong, quiet character, and the friendship that I so cherished. Then I thought of Fierce Deity; the strange passion that I had for him, the mystery and danger, and our emotional connection that would be broken by the death of his host.

Taran had said that the Fierce Deity would come after me, would find me, but that he would die. If he died, then Link would die with him! Was there no way that I could save them both? I did not care for my life anymore; I just wanted them to survive!

I lay my head against the stone and prayed to the goddesses that they would send me a savior.

I head footsteps outside of my door. It was Taran coming back for me. The handle turned and the door opened. I did not look up from my miserable position at the window.

The door closed behind Taran and I heard him take a few steps towards me.

"Please, Taran." I began in a hoarse voice. "Whatever you have planned, can it wait? I need time to mourn the terrible things that you have done to me."

I got no reply. Instead I heard his footsteps coming closer. I opened my mouth to demand that he leave, but to my surprise I felt a gentle hand rest upon my shoulder. A voice that was not Taran's spoke to me.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

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OMG! This chapter gets hecka intense! I hope that you enjoyed it :)


	15. Song

**Happy weekend everyone! Please enjoy the latest chapter and happy reading :)**

* * *

**"****You've met with a terrible fate, **haven't you?"

The words rang unpleasantly in my ears. A chill rushed through me as I felt this stranger's cold, thin fingers creep over my collarbone. His touch did not feel natural. Was this a man or a ghost that sought me in my prison? I had to take a few steadying breaths before I found the nerve to turn around and face the unknown entity behind me.

What I saw made me more than a little cautious. I beheld a bizarre looking person, a thin waif of a man, wringing his gaunt hands together nervously. His pale skin was stretched over angular cheekbones and a pointed chin. A wide, tight smile split his face in half. So big was his grin that his cheeks pushed his eyes into mere slits. Auburn hair was slicked back over his head and I could see two elongated ears, just like mine. The man was dressed entirely in shades of purple. He wore a suit, of sorts, and a thick, fraying coat.

Perhaps what was most unusual of all was the enormous bundle that was strapped to his back. It was of an incomprehensible size, looking too heavy for three men to carry, let alone just one. Masks of all shapes and sizes were tied to it, staring at their surroundings with hollow black eyes and frozen, gaping mouths.

As I stood there taking in the sight of him, this man rocked back and forth on his feet. He seemed to not have the ability to stay still, what with his wringing hands and swaying. Each movement he would make, the masks on his back would dangle precariously in danger of falling to the floor.

I could not tell if he mocked me with his smile or if his mind was lost to insanity.

"Who are you?" I demanded softly, wondering if any interaction would set off a lunatic reaction. "Are you a servant of Taran's?"

"A servant of no one am I." He whispered in a high, eerie voice.

His answer caught me off guard. I balked as I thought of what next to say. Was he stable enough, or was he babbling madman's words?

"Taran did not send you? Does he know that you are here?"

"The man you speak of knows not who I am, nor does he know that I've come to visit you."

A few moments passed in heavy silence. I was not sure if I was to be afraid of this man, or intrigued. He made me feel both apprehension and curiosity.

"If you are not Taran's servant and he does not know that you are here, then who are you?"

"I am the Happy Mask Salesman," said the man in his spooky voice, his swaying never ceasing. "I travel far and wide to spread joy and sell my fare, but today I have come to help you, Princess Zelda."

It was not unusual that he would know I was the Princess, but it struck me as very odd that a simple peddler would come to my rescue.

My brows furrowed as I studied him, feeling skeptical of this strange man who sold masks. There was something so abnormal about him, something so suspicious that I could not believe him entirely.

"You seem to be more than just a mask salesman." I argued.

"Perhaps I am," he replied with glee. "But that is not important now. What I need you to do is to help me fix the mess that you are in."

"You are going to free me from this tower?" I said with too much excitement. I hoisted myself to my feet, ready to flee the moment he gave the word.

"Oh no, I'm going to do so much more than that! The Ikana magic is going to resurrect very soon, and we need to stop it before it destroys Termina, as it destroyed the old land. There is only one person who can stop this from happening. Fierce Deity. I believe that you know him. I'm going to help you with the Fierce Deity problem."

My breath stopped! He knew of the Fierce Deity? Impossible!

For a fleeting moment I thought about lying to him and saying that I knew of nobody called the Fierce Deity, but as I looked into the salesman's face, I had a strong sense that I could not lie to him.

He would know it if I did.

With my knees weak, I stumbled over to the edge of the massive bed and sat upon it. I folded my hands in my lap and pretended that this conversation was nothing more than a meeting with my Council.

"You sir, strike me as omnipresent in many things. Please tell me, how did you know about me being here and more importantly, how do you know of the Fierce Deity?"

The salesman laughed. Tiny hairs on my arm stood on end at the sound of his throaty, weird chuckle.

"I know many things, Princess. I am a traveler, a wanderer. Can you not expect me to know of your plight and the great, white giant that accompanied you in your land?"

"Perhaps not if you were an ordinary man, but I sense that you are not so normal."

"Who really can be called normal in Termina? Our land is shrouded in the abnormal and odd."

I shuddered as he laughed again, perhaps thinking that it was some great joke to him.

"Now, let us get down to why I am here," he said, as he grabbed his chin and peered down at me through his squinted eyes.

"The Fierce Deity mask poses quite a problem for you, I believe."

My heart clenched.

"The Hero of your land, Link you call him, is possessed by this mask. You may not know this, but long ago, he was a child hero in Termina. He saved my land once, so now it is time to return the favor."

"You know about the power of the Fierce Deity's mask?" I asked, wanting to feel horrified and confused, but my mind was too weary to question his knowledge and I had the feeling that he would not be truthful with me if I asked how.

"I am very familiar with that particular mask, Princess. Masks are my specialty!" He said, patting a particularly woebegone looking mask that was perched above his shoulder.

"It is my fault that Link happened upon the Fierce Deity's mask," I said heavily. "If it had not been for my childish desire to explore Faron Woods and pretend that I was adventuring with Link, then this never would have happened! I am to blame if Link dies! This is all my doing and I cannot live with myself if—"

"Hush yourself, now! The fault is not yours," chirped the salesman. "You are not to be blamed. The power of the Fierce Deity mask is strong. How could you have known what sort of entity lay within the forest? Fierce Deity was calling out to Link long before you came along."

His explanation made no sense. The Fierce Deity called to him long before I came along? What did he mean by that?

"Why, Princess, were you so quick to blame yourself for your friend's fate?"

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. It felt strange to be free of my crown and let my locks flow freely.

I thought, why did I blame myself? Midna's face came to mind. The first night that Fierce Deity was at my castle came to my memory. She and I had stood together in the dark hallway while she spouted her bitter accusations at me.

"I blame myself because one of my dearest friends blamed me first. She loves Link, and she sees that I am the reason for his bad fortune. Also…"

Also, I had very unreasonable feelings for the Fierce Deity. Midna sensed this. She could tell that I was harboring affection for him, and it deepened my faults in her eyes.

"It is because of her anger at me that I blame myself." I said hastily.

A pause hushed the room.

"That is not the whole truth, my dear." Whispered the salesman. "What secrets are you hiding from me?"

I felt shameful. Never before had I spoken these admissions aloud. My lips quivered and I felt a single tear escape my eye and run down the bridge of my nose. I dipped my head and stared at my hands folded on my lap.

A pale, slender hand reached out and touched my chin. The salesman lifted my head up. His perpetual smile was a breath away from my face. Two pairs of squinted eyes bore into me.

"Tell me," he commanded softly.

My mouth trembled as I struggled to form words. I blinked my eyes, not allowing the tears to flow from them. Why was this so difficult for me?

"I might love him," I choked out. "I might love the Fierce Deity."

Overcome by emotion and disgrace, I buried my face in my hands and let my tears freely flow.

"There is no rhyme or reason to it! It is absolutely ridiculous that I feel the way I do, but I cannot help it. I would not have chosen this for myself, but my foolish heart has decided otherwise," I wept into my palms.

The salesman's hands grabbed my wrists and forcefully yanked them away. I gasped with surprise as he tightened his grip, still smiling as he was causing me pain.

"You have not acted wisely," he hissed happily.

He leaned in close to me and I tried to back away, but he pulled me ever nearer.

"How much do you know about this Fierce Deity?" Asked the Salesman. "Has he told you his past? Has he told you of the Ikana? Surely you must know. If you do know of what he really is, then your love for him would be quite unwise."

"He has!" I gasped in pain. "I know everything!"

With a force that unexpectedly strong, the Mask Salesman pushed me back. I fell onto the bed and hit my head against the wooden headboard.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?" Screeched the man.

He was no longer smiling, but instead a terrible grimace of rage was plastered onto his face. His skinny fingers were tugging at his hair and he was thrashing around.

"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT EVIL POWER HE IS! THE FIERCE DEITY IS JUST AS CORRUPTED AS MAJORA!"

All I could do was stare at him with a gaping mouth. I was horribly reminded of Zant's tantrums. This man was just a bomb waiting to go off, and my feelings for the Fierce Deity had triggered something terrible inside.

"I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this." He mumbled feverishly to himself. "I have fixed it before. I can fix it again. The forces that once tore the old land apart will not rise again. The horrors that I have seen at his hands, at her hands…Oh no, I cannot let this happen again. The servant of Majora will only resurrect his master's magic soon if I do not do something about it. No mere mortal will stop me. I can fix this."

The man went back to wringing his hands and the grin returned. It was as if the past few seconds had not happened at all.

"Now, I need your help to fix this." He said genially, as though we were best of friends. "This may all seem confusing to you now, but I assure you that by listening to me, all of our problems will be solved. Link will not die, Fierce Deity will be free of his curse, and Majora's magic will not come back to the land."

"How can I trust you?" I asked.

"You have no choice," he quipped gleefully. "Now take out that object you are hiding in your cloak. Yes, I know that it is there, so do not look so surprised."

Obediently, having no other choice, I hesitantly pulled back my cloak and drew out the small, blue Ocarina of Time. I had almost forgotten that it was even there, shoved into my pocket seconds before Taran ambushed me.

I ran my fingers over the smooth, glossy surface.

"What do you need with this?"

"Pull out the paper in the mouthpiece and set is aside. When you see the Fierce Deity, read it to him." said the Salesman. "When you have done that, I shall tell you what you are to do."

With some difficulty, I pinched the corner of the paper and slowly drew it out of the Ocarina. I itched to read it now, for the paper was yellowing and very old, but I honored the Salesman's instructions, lest he had another psychotic breakdown.

I noticed that he was carrying a crude, clay ocarina.

"What now?" I asked quietly.

"You know this song, I am sure." He answered. The Salesman brought the little instrument to his lips and began to play a haunting tune.

All my life I had heard it played on a music box that sat in the office at the manor. Not too long ago had I opened the lid of the box and immerse myself in the song. I hated that song because it filled me with sadness and pain.

The Song of Healing. Though it was played through a clay ocarina, the tune was still ominous. It still made my stomach turn and my heart beat with sorrow.

It was not over soon enough.

"Now, your turn," he said. "It is not difficult to play."

Though I hated the song, I submissively brought the Ocarina to my mouth and fumbled with the tiny holes. The tune I played was sharp and sounded nothing like what it was supposed to. My experience in playing that instrument was quite limited. I was proficient in the harp. Why could I not use one of those?

The Salesman chuckled as he listened to my failed attempts at the song.

"It will come to you," he promised. "You have the rest of the day to learn it."

"What do I need this song for?" I asked. "All my life I have known this song. It is from Termina, so I am told. What sort of power hides within the notes? Please, tell me. I am tired of being in the dark."

The man walked to me and folded his hands over mine, still holding the Ocarina.

"The Song of Healing is very mysterious," he crooned. "This song has the power to heal wounds, of course, but it can do so much more. The Song of Healing can mend an array afflictions, whether they be of the skin…or the soul."

My eyes widened and my heart beat fast.

"It can heal the soul? Do you mean that this can free the Fierce Deity?"

The Salesman gripped my hands tighter and smiled wider.

"When you see him again, play this song for him. Let us see if he remembers what it is. Then, if he is ever in trouble, play it for him. It will cause great healing." He whispered secretively. I ached to hear more, but before I could open my mouth, the Salesman backed away from me until he reached the door.

"Practice this song until you can play it perfectly! When the final crescent moon rises tonight, then play the Song of Healing. Help will come to you."

I stood to my feet and rushed to him, wanting to ask more about this "help," but as soon as I came close, the man raised his hand. My vision grew black and my knees became weak. I stumbled to the ground, barely able to lift my head up.

"Do not forget your task," echoed the voice of the Happy Mask Salesman.

I tried to respond, but my poor body was falling asleep against my will. The last thing I heard before my mind was lost was the eerie laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman.

**The day was agonizingly long. **As the sun rose higher and higher into the cloudy sky, I spent my endless hours pacing back and forth in the tiny, tower room. When the sun began to drop to the horizon, I felt my body become tense with anticipation. My time as prisoner in my own castle during the Twilight Occupation had not been so nerve wracking. Back then I had no end in sight. I never knew when Midna would pop in to visit me or if Zant would come to interrogate me. The passing of time was nonexistent, because the Twilight never changed.

Yet now I knew that the minutes were slipping away until something would happen. I had a task, and I almost drove myself insane waiting for the time to come.

It had not taken me but a few attempts to play the Song of Healing perfectly, so my day was spent doing nothing but watching the sky and playing the Ocarina to pass the time.

I also expected Taran to come bursting into my room at any second and whisk me off to some other part of the castle, but he never came. It was as though I were alone in the castle.

When the sun finally dipped below the horizon and the sky was filled with the brazen colors of sunset, I sat by the window and watched as stars peeped out of hiding.

Twilight was fading fast and the blood was rushing through my veins like a fire. I was ready. I sat in that dank room, waiting for the sun to fall. I wondered about my friends. Was the Fierce Deity searching for me? Surely he was. The white giant, the ages old deity would tear the world apart to find me. Would Midna forgive me if this all came to a decent end?

Link. Would he survive his possession? I looked to the sky and saw the clouds bleeding with deep orange and pink. The night was drawing ever near. My fingers fumbled over the smooth, glossy surface of the blue ocarina. Would I play the song right when the time came? How could a simple melody have the power to free me?

As I sat there pondering, I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the spiral staircase. To my utter dismay, Taran threw open the door. I snapped my head around to look at him and I was startled at what I saw.

His face was different somehow. The smile was too broad and his eyes were alight with malicious glee. He was very pale. It looked as though he had not seen sunlight for years. The man I saw before me was not the same man that had bragged about murdering my parents.

Something was not right.

"It's time, Princess," he crooned. Even his voice had changed. It was higher pitched and more…feminine.

"Time for what," I muttered dumbly, too distracted by these abnormal changes. My eyes followed as he sauntered over to me.

"For the resurrection," he replied, flashing me a smile full of teeth.

"I beg your pardon."

He stood over me, smiling and saying nothing. I had never before felt more uncomfortable in all my life.

"What are you…?" I began, but no sooner had the words left my mouth when Taran snatched my arm in his hand. His fingers clenched over my wrist. I cried out in surprise and pain. Taran's grip was strong.

"Come with me, dearest," he hissed with his feminine voice. His eyes were stained with yellow and orange.

With hardly an effort, Taran yanked me to my feet. He gave me one more simpering smile and began to march out of the room with me in tow.

"Wait!" I cried. "Where are you taking me? I have too—" My lips were sealed shut by an unspoken spell. I was dragged down the stairs and past Melinoe's lonely portrait. Something had happened to Taran! His strength was twice what it was when he had brought me here. I felt as though I were being dragged by a horse, not just a mere man.

He brought me to another dark, cobwebbed hallway, leading me down to the end and through a wide set of doors. They flew open of their own accord and I saw a spectacular room inside. Wide, tall windows graced the wall, letting in the light of the dying sunset. I could already see the stars in the night sky twinkling far above the horizon. The ceilings were tall and painted with ornate scenes. The floors were black, inky marble. Right in the center of the room was a dais. On the dais was a thin, golden stand with a plain golden bowl on top.

I suddenly dreaded to find out what was in that bowl.

"I've already started," he said excitedly. Taran dropped my arm and made his way to the dais. I could not move from my spot, otherwise I would have ran away and played the ocarina with all the breath I could muster. He had my bound by his wicked magic. My arms were plastered to my sides. I could not move so much as a finger.

Taran stood over the bowl and ran his fingers across the dark substance within. "The essence of life," was what I heard. "The essence of the servant will become the essence of the master," he muttered feverishly. He walked back over to me, enraptured by the liquid on his fingers.

"You will be witness to this new age," he whispered softly. His fingers rose to my face. I felt something warm on my cheek. A metallic, sickly smell filled me nose: the smell of blood.

"The essence of the servant…put upon the witness…" he was still murmuring as he painted the blood on my cheeks.

Horror gripped me as I realized the reason for Taran's paleness. This was his blood. That bowl was filled with his blood, the very same blood that he was smearing on my skin.

My lips quivered as they tried desperately to form pleas to make him stop. I willed my mouth to open, but the Ikana was stronger. I looked at his eyes, begging him silently for him to leave me be. His face was maniacal and he would not look back at me.

The torture was soon over and Taran walked back to the dais. He stood over it with his head bowed, as if in reverent prayer. I glanced to the windows and saw that the sunset was almost gone. My window of opportunity was nearly closed. My heart pounded with fear and anticipation. The blood was sticky and hot on my cheeks. I ached to wipe it off.

"Majora," Taran barked abruptly. I glanced over at him, my heart in my throat. His face was completely glazed over. He had no expression. His eyes were blank. His face was just a mask. The blood in the bowl began to bubble and froth. My stomach lurched at the sight. Taran's face lit up as the bowl itself began to glow with a green, diseased looking light. As the glow grew brighter and brighter, Taran started to speak in Majora's language.

Things began to happen all at once. The green light filled the room, clashing terribly with the lovely colors of the twilight. Taran's voice grew shrill, the pitch louder by the second. His face began to change. The sharp features dulled and twisted. His skin, bathed in the light, began to look purple and sickly.

Resurrection, Taran had said. The resurrection of Majora was taking place before my very eyes. Taran was going to become Majora.

I fell to my knees and began to pray in earnest to the goddesses. I prayed as I had never prayed before.

As if mocking my faith, Taran's voice screamed louder. It was an unearthly sound that made my skin crawl. A roar filled the room. Air was rushing like a storm inside, just like when the Fierce Deity was possessing Link in that tiny shack.

I put my hands over my ears and I screamed to Nayru for help. I begged, my frantic voice lost in the sound of Taran's spell.

Suddenly, I felt another rush, though this not from Taran's spell. For half a second, everything stopped; Taran's voice, the rush, the light, my prayers. All was still.

Shattering glass broke the silence. The windows were breaking, splitting, the shards flying all over the room. I gasped and quickly covered myself with my arms, though I felt nothing touch me. I heard cries of pain from the sorcerer. I peeked through the safety of my arms and saw that he was covered in thousands of cuts. Taran gaped at the glass spilled all over the marble floor, looking like ice on the glossy marble.

With a quick flex of my arm, I found that the spell over me had been broken and I could move again. I quickly looked out of the broken windows. The last visages of sunset had dipped below the horizon. Night had fallen. The crescent moon rose. I was but a pale sliver of light in the dark night, but it was my signal. My time had come. I had been given a chance. I threw every ounce of caution to the wind and prayed that the goddesses would guide my hands. I fumbled in my cloak and withdrew the ocarina. Taran took no notice of me, for the moment.

I inhaled deeply as I picked up the Ocarina of Time and rested it against my chin as I quickly prayed. The Song of Healing filled the air of the tower room as I skillfully shifted my fingers over the tiny holes of the Ocarina.

I finished, too fast it seemed. Nothing happened. Did I play it wrong? Should I play it more than once? What was I to expect? Why was nothing happening? My thoughts ran wild with panic and fear.

At first, Taran paid me no heed. When I began to play the song a second time, he slowly turned his head away from the window and locked his eyes on me. I stared back at him defiantly while I continued to play. A wicked sneer spread across his face and his eyes grew dark.

"What are you doing, Zelda," he asked me in that high voice. His tone was soft and dangerous. I said nothing, but continued to play, waiting for something to happen.

"Stop that. Stop that immediately." He demanded, his voice growing harsher. I only played louder.

"I said…STOP!" He screeched. At that last word, I heard two voices come out of his mouth. One was Taran's voice and the other was a woman's; high pitched and grating. Startled, I dropped the ocarina. It fell to the floor with a clatter.

"WHERE DID YOU LEARN THAT WRETCHED SONG?" The two voices screamed, intermingling with a terrible, spine tingling sound. I hastily scooped the ocarina off the ground and stuffed it back into my cloak. Taran began to stalk over to me, his feet crunching on the glass-covered floor. My heart thudded with terror. I could see that he was halfway into the resurrection. Taran's eyes were the same eyes that I had seen in my nightmares. His grin was wild, feral. His skin was tinged with a putrid purple. That second voice speaking with his…

"TELL ME, GIRL! TELL ME!" I scrambled backwards, glass piercing the skin of my palms, until my back hit the wall. I was trapped. Taran, with his inhumane strength, grabbed me around the throat and lifted me to my feet. His face was inches from mine.

"TELL ME WHO TAUGHT YOU THAT SONG," Majora's voice demanded. I could do nothing but sputter helplessly.

"I have not killed anyone in an age," she whispered. All traces of Taran's voice were gone. "Killing you shall be so sweet…" My throat closed around a silent scream as Taran's fingers tightened their grip. My world was growing darker. I was losing consciousness. I could register Taran's face, nearly possessed by Majora, glaring at me. His expression was angry, vicious. There was murder in his eyes. I blinked and suddenly he looked afraid. I crumpled to the floor as he released me without warning. Glass shards ripped the fabric of my dress as I fell on my knees. I could feel the smarting pain from where they cut me. My lungs gasped for air and tears rolled down my blood stained cheeks.

Taran was yelling angrily in Majora's language. Her voice was gone. I willed myself to look at him and saw Taran standing by the broken window. He was as pale and gaunt as ever, but his yellow eyes and purple skin were back to normal.

An electric tension ran through the air. The fine hairs on my arms prickled and I felt that some change had taken place. It had nothing to do with Taran's spell. I was because of the Song of Healing. Otherwise, Taran should not be so mad.

Lightheaded and shaking, I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled my way over to the window. Taran saw me coming and he yanked me to the window.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" He screamed at me. Spit flew from his mouth. I could not see out the window over his shoulder.

"I have done nothing!" I yelled back, not knowing if I lied or not. Nothing seemed to have happened, so what did he think I did?

"THE BARRIER IS BREAKING! YOU HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO BEAK THE BARRIER!" He accused loudly.

"What barrier have I broken?" I asked, confused and elated all at once.

"That barrier was strong! It was fortified by Ikana! There is no way that it can have been dissolved so quickly!"

"I don't know what I've done," I yelled back at him.

"LOOK!" He commanded angrily. "LOOK AND TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO CAUSE THIS!"

He pushed me roughly to the window and I fell against the windowpane. I could not explain what I saw. It was a mass army of dark robed figures gliding over the ground. They swarmed over the cliffs guarding the castle. The entire earth was teeming with these soldiers and they were coming straight towards the castle.

"What are those things?" I cried.

"The Garo," rumbled Taran. "They are coming for me. The barrier that has held them back for decades is broken."

"What are the Garo," I whispered with fright. I watched with fear as the glided noiselessly up the sides of the castle. Would they be friendly to me? I looked back at Taran.

The elegant man's hair was messy and hanging in silver threads over his face. He was ripping at his fingernails with his teeth. His hollow eyes were popping out of his head and his skin was no longer red but a pale shade of green.

"Taran? Are these Garo to be feared?" I inquired. "Are they of Ikana?"

"I must hide you!" He suddenly burst out. Once again my arm was grabbed and I was being forcefully led out of the room.

I followed him down the five balconies. We ran through more dark corridors and down a set of slimy, wet stone stairs in the bowels of the castle.

"The dungeon will keep you away from them," he muttered frantically. I could hardly see where I was going anymore, so I clung to Taran's arm for support.

"The dungeon?" I called out. "Am I in danger?"

Taran stopped and looked back at me. His expression was lost to madness.

"I will keep you here," he hissed, "until I have finished my spell. You will stay here until my master is resurrected through me! You will NOT interfere with my plans anymore."

With that, he led me to the very end of a dim hallway. Only a single torch planted in the wall gave me light. Rusty iron bars protected a pitch-black cell, the very one that Taran pushed me into.

"Wait!" I pleaded as he chained me inside. "WAIT! DO NOT DO THIS TO ME!"

Taran was beyond recognizable. He kept repeating the same line over and over again.

"They cannot find you here."

"They cannot find you here."

"They cannot find you here."

He feverishly muttered the phrase between words from Majora's language. When my ankles and wrists were secure in the chains, Taran left without a word. He ran down the hallway, disappearing into the blackness beyond the torchlight.

My mind was trying to catch up with the sudden turn of events. I could not keep my breath steady. My heart felt as though it would burst inside my chest. What was going to happen to me now?

A deafening crash boomed a few floors above me. The entire foundation shook and bits of stone fell onto my face.

I leaned against the damp wall at my back and I tried not to weep. My eyes closed and I began to fervently pray for help to come to me.

My thin voice echoed in the musty chambers while there continued to be loud sounds above me.

I opened my eyes as a particularly loud blast made my ears ring. What was going on up there?

Out of the darkness came another noise.

"Do not be afraid," called a deep, authoritative voice. I yelled with fright at the sudden voice in my lonely chamber.

"Who is there?" I wailed. "Show yourself!"

"Only if you promise not to be afraid," commanded the voice.

I said nothing, not able to promise the absence of fear.

Yet the owner of the voice came anyways.

"There is no time for you to gather your courage," it said. "I must show myself now."

Out of the darkness came a robed figure, different from the ones I had seen moments ago. This one was tall with an elongated, skeleton like face. Its robes were a vibrant blue and red. Two gleaming sabers poked out of the billowing sleeves.

My entire body quivered with nerves, but somehow I was not afraid. Some sense of peace came over me as I looked upon this creature.

"I shall explain in a moment, but first I must bring you to safety. Arise. Your chains no longer bind you."

I looked down and true to his word, the metal hinges that were around my ankles and wrists were lying on the floor.

"Follow me," he ordered. I stood to my feet, full of confidence. He turned around and glided into the dark. I took a breath, and into the blackness I went.

* * *

We are nearing the end! This chapter has seen the biggest changes from the original. The whole scene where Taran is doing that dang creepy spell wasn't in there. I originally had Zelda just play the song at night time and then Taran came running in her room and took her down to the dungeon. I really, REALLY rushed this chapter when I first wrote it and I just wanted to slow it down and add a few more things to make it more developed and awesome. I hope that you enjoyed and don't forget to review on your way out :)

PS-If you have enjoyed this story so far, I am working on an original book! I hope to have it published sometime next year. More details to follow soon!


	16. Solar

**I always tell myself "oh, wait another week to post the next chapter. Come on! You can wait!" I never can. The rest of the story has been written, edited, and finalized. This story has been 3 years in the making, with a very long, sad hiatus in the middle where it accidentally got deleted, and I just can't wait to complete it. Please enjoy this next chapter. It's honestly one of my favorites. Happy reading :)**

* * *

"**Follow my lead, **and you shall be safe. Stray from the path for a second, and your life will be in danger," echoed the deep voice of the phantom through the dungeon.

Through the darkness, I groped my way up the steps. The explosive noises I had heard down in my cell were growing deafeningly loud. My entire body was shaking, not from fear, but from whatever chaos was happening above me.

Taking heed of his words of danger, I kept close to the billowing robes of the phantom. Up we went, coming closer to ground floor. Light poured in from the open door ahead. We were almost out of the dungeons.

My strange guide slipped into the brightness beyond the doorway. I seemed to be frozen on the steps, unable to move an inch. Hesitation kept me from taking a step past the frame. Something was not right. Enormous chunks of the ceiling were planted right in the middle of the corridor. I looked up and saw the floor above me through gaping holes where the ceiling used to be. The entire castle was still shaking violently.

The phantom had said that my life was going to be in danger. In danger from what, exactly?

"Come with me, Princess," commanded the voice of the specter. "Do not stray from the path."

I had no other choice but to obey. There was no obvious threat that I could detect from this phantom…

As soon as I stepped into the corridor, my phantom guide began to quickly glide over the ground. It was all I could do to keep pace with him!

In no time at all, we made it to the ground floor were the entrance to this castle was.

Everything was complete chaos! The same dark robed figures I had seen swarming around Taran's castle were now inside of it. Legions of these creatures were ripping the castle apart, stone by stone, with shadowy black limbs that could not be called hands. The entire structure was crumbling all around me.

"Princess, we must make haste," called the phantom once more. "Very carefully follow my lead."

As he said this, a massive piece of stone crashed from the ceiling and landed inches away from me. I held back a scream and dutifully ran right to the phantom.

"Please, lead me out of this place," I pleaded with what remaining dignity I could muster.

By whatever power this phantom held, we were kept safe from the falling stones. No matter what path this specter had me follow, no matter how harrowingly close the pieces of castle came crashing down, I was mercifully kept from being crushed to death.

The creatures around me, the Garo I assumed they were, continued to demolish Taran's home. They did not acknowledge my presence at all. Were these things perhaps on my side? Was this the help that the Mask Salesman promised me?

**Moonlight had never seemed so dull. **I stumbled out of the crumbling castle and nearly fell to my knees on the ground. With bleary eyes, I looked to the sky and saw the crescent moon hanging in the inky blackness, signaling the near end of Link's life.

"No," I whispered hoarsely. Panic was rising in my throat. I watched as silent clouds drifted by in the night sky. A great, gray cloud looked like the mouth of a beast, inching towards the dying moon. The light in the sky was dimmed as the cloud devoured the shining crescent. It seemed to me a terrible omen.

"Please, whatever you are, Phantom, I need your help! I need to get back to Hyrule!" I jumped to my feet and wildly spun around, searching for my phantom guide. He was nowhere to be found.

"PLEASE!" I yelled. "PLEASE COME BACK! I NEED HELP!"

"You will have all the help you need," bellowed a deep, rich voice. A strong, familiar sensation rushed into my soul. I felt powerful surges of relief and the thrill of victory inside of me. These emotions were not my own.

Fierce Deity was here.

I began to turn round and round, now looking for my white giant, the phantom all but forgotten. My feet were facing the steps of the castle and I could see a fresh swarm of Garo sweeping up the steps.

Amongst the black robes I spotted a white tunic shining like a beacon in a storm. The sea of phantoms parted to make way for him and the Fierce Deity came rushing up the stone steps. His hollow eyes locked on to me and his features were pulled into a grim, determined frown. I could hardly find it in me to breathe. He had come for me with this large, bizarre army. As I watched him coming towards me, all time seemed to slow down. With all the rushing Garo beside him, he truly looked like a god of war now. His sword, gleaming oddly in the dim silver moonlight, was gripped in his mighty hands and held high above the swarm. Every move of his muscles was swift and powerful. I shivered as I thought of the fate of any enemy that was unlucky enough to cross paths with him.

Time came racing back to the present and before I could blink, the vision was over and he was towering right in front of me. I opened my mouth but words could not come. My arms went up to embrace him, but his giant hands placed themselves on my shoulder and held me back. In a strange, wordless communication, I knew that this was not the time and place to celebrate a reunion.

Yet his eyes were a burning fire and I felt my skin flush at the intensity of his gaze. This was some new, denied emotion of his that caught my breath in my throat. The heat of his soul burned my own and I felt his sudden desire for me, but it was a fleeting passion that passed and the fire in his eyes died. Barely a breath passed before Fierce Deity was the cold, god of war once more.

Embarrassed, I glanced to his right and saw Midna standing beside him. She had the look of a lioness ready for a hunt. My mind tried to comprehend how these two united as allies to find me, but there was too much happening all at once. Out of thin air, the phantom appeared by my side.

The red brows of Fierce Deity furrowed together and he let go of my shoulders. Midna replaced him and she drew me into a stiff embrace and then quickly let me go. Stunned and confused, I turned away from her and saw that the Fierce Deity was speaking with the phantom.

"—Take them away from Termina as soon as possible, for once we break down the Castle and find the Ikana Sorcerer, Termina will no longer be safe for her." The phantom gestured to me with his bony hand.

"The Ikana grows stronger by the second. Majora's power is building within the man with each stone we tear down. Take them to the moon. Now."

I felt the Fierce Deity's heart clench with grief as the phantom spoke the word "moon." The Termanian moon was his home. He had not set sight on it for eons. My eyes once again traveled up to the moon. The clouds had past; the cloudy beast was gone, faded away and drifting nowhere into the endless sky. It was surreal, looking at this celestial object and knowing its true, bloody, sad history.

Fingers clenched around my wrist and the Fierce Deity was glaring down at me. Midna was in his other hand. The same rush of power that I had felt when Fierce Deity had taken me to the City in the Sky now practically burned my arm. Fierce Deity's grip grew painfully strong. I tried to cry out, but the sound would not come.

In an instant, I felt my body leave the earth and fly into the night sky.

**The moon was softer than I **expected. My face was brushing up against something that was tickling my skin. The ground beneath my body was covered in the tickling, soft stuff.

It was too painful to open my eyes. The journey to the moon had been fast and rough and we landed none too gently. Where the Fierce Deity had grabbed my arm felt like it had been seared by fire.

Beside me, I felt Midna sit up and grumble something ugly about the Fierce Deity.

Though my body was aching, I rolled over and sat myself up. My muscles protested violently at my movements as they worked to lift me off the ground.

My eyes opened and at first all I could see was bleary brightness before my vision became clear. A vast field of bright green grass stretched before me. I looked to my right and saw how the perfectly flat ground sloped gently into a small hill, at the top of which stood a stout tree; it's branches spread out like an embrace and hardly a shadow was cast on the grassy ground.

It did not seem to be either day or night there on the surface of the moon. The sky, a stunningly deep shade of indigo, loomed overhead. The heavens seemed so close, that I had to only reach out my fingers and touch the dim stars that hung there.

Yet the air was empty. It was absolutely void of any noise or wind or life at all.

"It feels so dead here," Midna whispered reverently. Her crimson eyes scanned the never-ending sea of green and blue with a shade of sadness.

"This is a sad place," she said once more, letting her words fade into the breathless air.

Indeed, she was right. An empty, lifeless aura filled the atmosphere. All life was gone. Everything had died. I knew, from Fierce Deity's story, that the moon was once alive. This had been the place of his birth. Now that he was a cursed being, so too had the moon been stripped of vivacity; it was nothing more than a heart without its life's beat.

Yet it remembered. This place remembered all and the dead, vacant feeling silently spoke of its sad history, if anyone cared to listen.

It knew that I was listening.

We sat there for a while, not knowing how much time was passing by and not bothering to care about it. Midna's words hung heavy on my heart and Fierce Deity's story haunted me. It was all too real now, the tale of his past. Before it was only given life by my imagination, but here I was in the flesh and I was not necessarily pleased to be there. It was eerie to me, and it made my skin crawl with worry. I could not shake the feeling of the bad omen I had seen. I could not forget the sight of the dark clouds swallowing the silver moon.

It would not do to dwell on superstitions. In an effort to move past my fears, I turned my attention to Midna and I opened my mouth to speak to her.

"How did you find me?" I asked, shattering the stillness. "Also, what sort of army have you and the Fierce Deity mustered?"

Midna put a slender hand around her chin and began to absentmindedly stoke it. Her gaze continued to stare into the vast fields of the moon.

"Well I guess it wasn't too long after Taran attacked me that Fierce Deity was shaking me to my senses," she began abruptly. "Even so, it took me a few seconds before I realized that you were gone."

She paused for a moment.

"I knew that you were gone before I even looked around and saw just Fierce Deity and myself alone in the corridor. I could see the truth written all over his face…and when I told him that Taran was the one who had ambushed us, he absolutely—"

Midna's words caught in her throat and she let her mouth hang open. Her brows furrowed and in a second she snapped her lips shut and turned towards me.

"Zelda, you know that I'm not afraid of anything, right?"

I nodded my head, intrigued.

"Well you've seen firsthand that I'm no coward when it comes to taking a stand against that big brute of yours, either. That being said, when he found out that you had been carried off by that swine Taran, something inside him must have snapped. At first he was cold and fuming but then…"

Her voice grew distant and she narrowed her eyes at the memory.

"Zelda, I was frightened. I would rather have faced Ganondorf a hundred times over than experience Fierce Deity's wrath ever again. To me, Ganondorf was just a big fool using borrowed power to get what he wanted but the Fierce Deity was something entirely different. He is a god, something that the Gerudo was not even a shadow of. Seeing a god rage is like watching an epic war battle."

I had to give a sardonic smile at her description of Fierce Deity's anger; I knew all too well what that was like.

"What happened next?" I asked patiently.

"Well by the time he had calmed down enough to stop screaming in his moon language and speak the Hylian tongue, the whole castle knew that something was horribly wrong. Your council formed an emergency meeting and they were going to try to drive your army straight to Termina and bring you back with swords and fire, but the Fierce Deity put an end to those plans."

Midna laughed and shook her head.

"You should have seen it, Zelda. All the council was sitting prim and proper in their seats and that giant god towered over them. He growled at them like a bear and declared that no army would march to Termina; he was going to save you himself and I was going to go with him. Of course they couldn't say no! They saw what he did to your throne room and they knew that it would be foolish to oppose him. So they gave him a map and some prayers and we set off right away.

I had to ride with him on that great black stallion, the wild one that nobody could ever tame. We rode hard and fast. I swear, Fierce Deity has some sort of magical bond with animals because that horse was flying. No animal has ever traveled that far, that fast. It was only a few short hours that you had been gone when we reached the forest. The stallion would not step one inch into that place, not even with all of Fierce Deity's magical coaxing, so we had to go on foot.

It's not easy to keep up with a companion that takes one whole step to your measly four, so I practically had to run the whole way through to keep up. The trip through the forest took longer, or so it seemed. That place is so strange. Does time pass there? Anyways, now is not the time to talk about that. When we finally got out of that place, we had hardly gotten more than a few feet into Termina when—what's going on?!"

A deafening rush of air interrupted her story, but not a blade of grass moved. The moon was suddenly bathed in a blinding light and I hastily tried to shield my eyes.

Seconds later, the light subsided and the Fierce Deity was standing before us. I gasped and stood to my feet as quickly as I could. Midna was much slower to greet the god of the moon.

I rushed to him, eager to be near him. After I had confessed my true feelings for the Fierce Deity to the odd man who called himself the Happy Mask Salesman, I found it hard to hold back expressing my affection. I probably looked like a great big fool to Midna, but in that moment, I let myself have a small second of happiness.

I held my hands out to him and he did not hesitate to wrap his fingers around my own in a gentle grip.

I could feel his blank eyes searching my face. "What has happened?" He asked softly. "What did Taran do to you?"

I had nearly forgotten about the man's blood painted on my cheeks.

"Taran," I began. My voice wavered with the threat of tears. I would have given anything to forget what he did to me in that castle, to erase my mind of the terrible sins he had confessed. "He did some spell and wiped his blood on me…"

Fierce Deity frowned and I felt his anger flush. His fingers began to tenderly wipe away the stains.

"You are safe, for now. I will never let him touch you again," he breathed in a soft voice. "I am sorry that it took me so long to follow you here. Taran grows stronger with each passing second. It will be a matter of time before his Ikana magic takes him to the moon. Majora means to destroy me once and for all."

"Majora," I said with fear. "She's trying to resurrect through Taran! Why? I thought that you had done away with her a hundred years ago?"

Fierce Deity squeezed his hands over mine for a brief moment and he frowned angrily.

"So I had once believed, but her essence has been kept alive by the Ikana being practiced through a bloodline that never died. Her creation is wicked and strong; that witch is manifesting herself through her willing servant, Taran. When I was down on the earth, I could feel her spirit growing inside of him…it sickened me. As I said before, it will not be long before she comes here herself, using Taran's body as her proxy."

My heart was sinking to the pit of my stomach. Would I ever have a moment's peace in my life, or was there always to be some sort of colossal conflict that would change the course of the world forever?

Fierce Deity must have felt my pessimism, for he brought my hands to his face and he ever so slightly landed a kiss on my knuckles. My stomach lurched excitedly and I felt my cheeks flush pink. From behind me, I heard Midna make a huffing noise. I turned around and gave her a sheepish grin. She only shrugged her shoulders and turned away.

I turned back to my white giant; he was looking down at me, his face as hard as stone.

"At least you are home," I said timidly, trying to lighten his darkened mood.

"Home," he muttered deeply. His hands let go of mine and he took a step away from me. I watched as Fierce Deity turned his head left and right, his white eyes taking in the sight before him.

"There were once mountains and valleys here on my moon, my home. There were great cities made of white marble and hundreds of Lunar men, woman and children living in them. Now time has wasted them away and they are no more…" he breathed. A queer sort of sadness struck him. It was almost sentimental, what he was feeling.

The Deity of the Moon, the fierce god of War, beheld his ancient kingdom. The deep blue sky framed him, making him seem more like a giant than ever before. His pure white hair and armor gleamed like stars in of themselves. Fierce Deity's chin was tipped up as he gazed into the endless heavens above. His face was stern, but his features spoke of heavy thoughts hidden behind them. The red and blue war paint on his face was a stark contrast to the bleakness of the moon around him; Fierce Deity's world must have once been as vibrant as he was.

The spell broke when the Fierce Deity closed his eyes in great concentration.

"The Garo are coming now," was all he said. Remnants of his melancholy could still be tasted in his words.

I heard a shrill yelp of surprise from Midna and I whirled around to see what was happening to her.

A rush of awe ran through me. The entire army of black robed phantoms that I had seen viciously ripping Taran's castle apart were now standing, or floating, at docile attention before us. Standing before all of them was the robed figure with the skull face that had freed me from the reeking dungeons below the castle.

I was speechless and hopelessly confused. The specter bowed before me and the legions of the Garo followed suit. Fierce Deity had taken his place at my side and he returned the favor.

"My lord," said the deep voice of the phantom. It felt strange for the Fierce Deity to be called "my lord."

"My lord, we have managed to hold back the power of Taran, but our restraints cannot quell his might for much longer. The witch of old, Majora, is consuming his soul. When we left him, their souls were becoming one. She, they, will be here in a matter of hours. Do you see the sky?"

He finished his question by sweeping a skeletal hand across the blue firmament.

"Look towards the horizon, my lord. It bleeds crimson."

Wordlessly, the three of us turned our sights to the sky. Indeed, a thin line of blood red sky stained the horizon.

"What does this mean?" I whispered to the Fierce Deity.

"My Princess, it means that Majora's Ikana is mighty. Her wrath is consuming the very atmosphere. She is preparing Termina for the final battle between her and the god of war."

"She is trying to fashion it after the days we spent battling on the beach," growled the Fierce Deity. Heat was pouring off of him like sweat. "My sister, how dare she remind me—" he hissed, too furious to finish his thoughts.

I swallowed down a knot of anxiety that was building up in my throat. As a Princess of Hyrule, I was trained to never let my fear cut me down; I was to be brave and wise and calm. I took a full, calming breath and turned towards what I assumed to be the Garo leader.

"Please, I am afraid that I am in the dark. Pray tell me, who are you? What are you? There has been so much that has happened since I was taken by Taran to his castle. I must know what has taken place."

"Well I was in the middle of explaining it to her before you interrupted," Midna muttered under her breath to the Fierce Deity. He paid her no heed.

"Yes your majesty," answered the phantom. "You have every right to know what is taking place.

I am the Garo Master. What you see behind me is my army of Garo. Long ago, in the last dying days of Arkhaos, when the sun burned black and the earth was a poisonous wasteland, the Garo were once men. We were the soldiers of the Last Army of the god of War. We served him with our dying breaths, but even as we laid our bodies to rest, our spirits would not be silenced.

Instead of giving up our souls to the four gods of old, we vowed that we would not rest until the Ikana scourge was gone from the world. Our loyalty to our leader was stronger than death itself. Yes, we saw his flaws and we knew that following him into battle would mean our lives, but we also saw that Majora's magic was a far greater evil. Our lives had been tainted by the touch of Ikana and we hated it with such a passion that it did not matter if we lived or died; it had to be extinguished. Our dying souls knew that there were small pockets of this world that still stank with Ikana.

So we became spirits. The four fathers allowed us to stay on as spirits and we became the Garo. Our fearless leader, the Fierce Deity left us and so did Majora. Even so, Ikana lived on.

We have spent the last few thousand years defending this new world, Termina, against the Ikana ever rising again. We had almost succeeded, but a certain line of men eluded us.

Taran is the last of his line to have the gift of Ikana. We have tried to end his life for years now, but he is strong. He is descended from a family that served as Majora's priests of Ikana. Those people became Kings in Termina, using the last remnants of the Ikana. That is why they escaped our fury for so long.

Yet hope of ridding the world of Ikana came to us only the day before this one. We were told by a source that we cannot name that a god of old had come back to life and he was making his way towards Termina. Our source told us to wait beside the woods for the god of War to come. The one who gave us these orders is one that we cannot refuse. His word still holds great power."

"You cannot name this person?" asked the Fierce Deity roughly.

"No we cannot. We were under very specific orders to not tell. He said that…he said that it would ruin everything if you knew. I cannot see how it would be an issue, but I have no right to disobey. It will be done as instructed.

We waited by the woods until we saw the god of War step into Termina. We manifested before him and we explained what we are. Even now, our loyalty remains unbroken to our leader. We led him to the castle of Taran and waited until the sun dropped behind the earth and the moon hung in the sky.

An unfathomable amount of Ikana guarded the castle; we had no way of getting through. We knew that we were not even visible to any eyes inside the castle; a foolish mistake on Taran's part I believe. Even so, we were told to wait until moonlight and then the barrier would be broken. When we were through, then we could do as we wished to Taran and his fortress.

The sun slowly set and suddenly, we felt the barrier fall away. The rest you know yourself."

"What will you do now?" Midna asked.

"Will you stay and fight Majora with us?" I asked, wishing that we could have all the help we could muster. Surely this army would have not an issue with defeating our foe.

"No," said the stern voice of the Fierce Deity. "They will not stay. This fight is mine and mine alone," he said decidedly.

"My lord is right." Said the Garo Master. "We cannot help him. If our lord defeats Majora and her servant Taran, the Ikana line will be broken and then our souls will be free to pass on. However, if they are not defeated, then we will continue to serve our leader for the rest of eternity."

Fierce Deity nodded in approval, but I could feel a weight of guilt pressing down on his heart; he felt entirely responsible for their fate.

"When will we know that she is close to arriving?" I asked, my throat thick with growing nerves.

"The heavens will declare it, my Princess." He replied, gesturing once again to the horizon. Already the sliver of crimson had thickened and began to seep into the indigo sky.

The Fierce Deity turned his neck and stared at the reddening sky. His eyes blinked wearily and he sighed deeply.

"My loyal servants," he began heavily. "I cannot say that I deserve the likes of any one of you. My prayer is that your souls will finally be at rest. I would not live with myself if I had to know that another moment passed where your loyalty to me kept you bound to the earth for another day dawning. Consider your debts paid. Be free now. I beg of you."

The Garo Master regarded Fierce Deity's words calmly, but he paid them no mind.

"Finish your task, and we shall do as you say, my lord. Until then, we shall return to Termina and await the outcome of your trial. We are forever in your service, even until the end of time. We shall go now."

As the Garo Master spoke his words, the vast army of Garo disappeared one by one, then legion by legion. The very last to fade away in the reddish glow of the darkening sky was the master himself.

I wanted to thank him, but I knew that he had saved me out of loyalty to his god. It was duty that he had saved me and thanking him might have been an insult. Instead I respectfully bowed as I watched him fade.

As his shape became transparent, he spoke a few last wispy words.

"Speak to your children, my lord. They have been waiting for so long."

No sooner had the words left the air and the Garo Master finally faded away that I felt a presence behind me. A small, clear voice spoke a few timid words.

"Father, why has it taken you so long to return? Tell me, did you want to stay away from us forever?"

Fierce Deity's face was shocked. His emotions were almost as turbulent the day that he had seen Helena in the City in the Sky. I looked down and saw a child tugging at the hem of his tunic.

Pale skin and sunny hair hung around a thin, pointed face. Eyes, both innocent and wise, looked eagerly up into the face of the Fierce Deity. Bare feet touched the green grass and simple white garb clothed the young child.

Though I knew that this child was not so young. This child was older than Hyrule itself.

Another child appeared out of nowhere; this one looked much the same, save for his hair being the color of freshly turned dirt. His small hands grabbed another chunk of Fierce Deity's tunic and he gazed imploringly at the Fierce Deity.

"I wonder…do you have regrets, father?" This child asked. I felt a pang of horrible shame pierce the Fierce Deity like a sword.

A third child, this one with ginger locks, placed his slim fingers on Fierce Deity's knees. He ventured another question.

"Why did you leave us all to die? Were we not good enough for you to stay?"

Their words were full of childish naivety, but they were heavier than stones. Fierce Deity put a massive hand over the child's head, but he could not give an answer. A sorrowful storm of emotion was raging inside of him and it was painful for even me to feel it. I detached my soul from his and let him sort his own soul out privately.

A fourth child came to him. I remembered from Fierce Deity's story that only four children survived the dying moon. This was the last child to come to us. His hair was silver and his eyes were the biggest and most knowing, though his purity seemed the greatest.

"Can you feel the moon calling you home?" He whispered as he took Fierce Deity's free hand in his own.

Chills ran down my spine at the question. I thought once again of the clouds covering up the moon and the feeling of dread came upon me, heavier than ever. Fierce Deity's face betrayed surprise as well, though I saw him quickly push it away.

Instead, he knelt to the ground, getting on eye level with the Last Lunar children. He began to whisper to them in his language, the one that sounded as beautiful as water running over pebbles in a stream. I ached to know what he was saying, but I instead watched as he addressed each one of the children.

They endearingly placed their palms on his cheek and whispered back to him in his ear. My heart melted at the sight of him and the remainder of his people. The children, so innocent and so old, took to him like a long lost father.

In all ways, he truly was a father returning to them.

To give them privacy in their moments of reuniting, I politely turned my attention to Midna. Her eyebrow was raised and she looked utterly bemused.

"What kind of children are they?" she whispered curiously. "They are so peculiar!"

"If we ever get through this, I will tell you everything. Now, however, is not the right time."

"I really want to know! If we do survive, then please tell me because that seems so…strange," she demanded.

I shushed her, but the Fierce Deity had already risen to his feet. The Children placed themselves at his side, holding on to whatever shred of him that they could. Their wide eyes roamed over Midna and me, but they never said a word to us.

Fierce Deity was once again a hardened soul and he stood with his arms crossed and his jaw set firmly. I allowed my emotions to mingle with his again and I found that he was still inwardly shaken by meeting the children.

He barked a few words in the lunar language and all but one of the children scattered off like sheep. The silver haired boy lingered for a moment.

"The moon will take you home, father." He whispered before bounding away over the hill. His words made my skin crawl.

"What did you say to them?" I asked after they all had left, curious to know more about the little men on the moon.

"I told them many things, Zelda, but for now they are going to hide. Look at the sky. Time is running out."

The scarlet was overtaking the indigo. Already more than half of the heavens were bleeding red. My heart skipped a beat and I heard Midna sharply inhale.

Fierce Deity walked over to my side and unexpectedly grabbed my hand and held it over his heart.

"It is time to right my wrongs," he reverently breathed. "When the red swallows up the blue, my hour of redemption will arrive. I do not know what to expect, but I ask both of you to be strong. Midna—" He barked sharply.

She turned her eyes on him, eyes that matched the growing color of the sky, and nodded her acknowledgement.

Fierce Deity turned his pale eyes on her and looked her deeply in the eye.

"Forgive your friend."

Midna's eyes briefly flashed towards me and I saw remorse and misery there before she quickly looked at the ground. Tears threatened to blur my vision and I also looked at the ground. Fierce Deity was asking forgiveness on my behalf. I prayed that somehow he could be with me when we had saved Link—"

"Wait!" I suddenly cried. Fierce Deity glared at me and Midna did not look up from the ground.

"I have to show you something," I told the Fierce Deity. When I was in the tower at Taran's castle, I remembered that the Happy Mask Salesman had told me to play the Song of Healing to the Fierce Deity. My fingers fumbled with my cloak as I tried to hastily pull out the Ocarina of Time. The ragged piece of paper was still in my cloak, but I decided to read that later.

My lips felt dry and stiff as I readied myself to play. Midna was looking at me, now curious, and so was the Fierce Deity.

The ominous song perfectly fit with the eerie mood of the moon. The notes rose and fell in their peculiar way and I actually found myself liking the melody for once. I closed my eyes and let myself drift off into the music when I heard a groan come from the Fierce Deity.

Scared, I stopped my playing and my eyes flew open to the sight of the white giant doubled over in pain. His fingers were clutching madly at his white hair and his face was pinched in agony. I felt his soul writhe in tumultuous turmoil.

"What is happening?" I asked wildly as I put my arms around his broad chest. He pushed me away and continued to cry out his hurt.

"WHAT WAS THAT SONG YOU PLAYED?" He bellowed. "IT PAINS ME!"

"It was the Song of Healing," I cried defensively. "I was told to play it for you!" I looked down at my Ocarina, knowing that it held old power. A small flicker of light began to shine in the darkness.

It dawned on me as to why would the Happy Mask Salesman tell me to play this particular song to the Fierce Deity. Did he not say something along the lines of this song being able to heal? I recalled his words spoken to me in that tower room.

"_This song has the power to heal wounds, of course, but it can do so much more. The Song of Healing can mend an array afflictions, whether they be of the skin…or the soul." _

Also, wasn't the Fierce Deity cursed by a song?

Did the brother Asclepius have an affinity for masks? Was he not considered a strange individual? My heart pounded like a drum at these new revelations. The great pieces of the puzzle were falling into place and I could barely contain myself!

"Do you know this song?" I asked excitedly. "Tell me, do you know this song? Does it sound familiar to you?"

"I cannot tell," he snapped angrily. "That song does something to me. It causes me pain in my skull, in my jaw, and in my face, but I do not know why." Fierce Deity was now rubbing his jaw and his eyes were squinted in slowly fading pain, but I was still bubbling with discovery!

"Please tell me, I think that I might know how to free you!" I tried to say, but before the first few words had left my mouth, Midna cried out and pointed to upwards.

All hopeful excitement drained from me as I saw the last visages of indigo sky disappear as it was devoured by crimson, just as the clouds had devoured the moon.

This could wait just a little while longer. I frantically turned to the Fierce Deity and I expected to pour out my feelings for him in a burst of emotion, but his expression stopped me. He was looking at me with all the tenderness and peace I had ever seen on another being.

"Do you want to know why I came with you?" He asked gently. I nodded yes, but my heart pounded nervously as I watched the growing pillar of smoke before us. He could have told ne why at any of the other countless times I had asked him.

"Why would a fallen deity, cursed and angry and bent on revenge, come with a girl that knew no way to help him, but desperately wanted to save her friend? It made no sense, did it? I should have just left you and wandered the land on my own, trying to save myself. Why did you come with me, you always asked.

When I told you of my past, I kept one thing hidden. This one thing, I had never understood before, and I was not ready to understand it even then, but I know now what it means and whatever happens, I want you to know what I am about to tell you.

Every so often over the course of my countless years, I would have these dreams, these visions I suppose. I would stand in a field that was cast in twilight. Behind me was the darkness, swallowing up the world. Before me was the dawn, casting light upon my path. I would choose the night. I would run to it, stumbling and falling, never looking back. I was lost, suffocated, blind, and I could not find my way. I would feel fear, real fear as I had never felt before. I would wander in the darkness alone and afraid…until I felt someone gently grab my hand and pull me in the other direction. This hand guided me out of the night and I was suddenly desperate to follow, to be free of the pressing darkness. The light fell upon me and I saw the cloaked figure that was leading me back to the dawn, though they never turned. We walked until the sun rose high above the horizon and the night was no more. I would feel hope and peace as I never had before course through me. I felt more alive in that vision than I had ever felt in my waking life. As this new sensation surged through my veins, the figure would begin to turn around."

He sighed sadly and shook his head.

"I would never see the face of my rescuer, for every single time that they turned around, I would wake from my dream. One the day that I fought Majora on the beach, I had my last dream."

His voice faltered and he gazed at me. I felt his heart quicken.

"I was cursed into a mask by my brother and given to the Lunar Children to live out my days on the moon. When Asclepius left, I felt myself grow weary and I fell into a vision. It was the same one as always. There was the darkness and the dawn and I chose the darkness. My rescuer came and retrieved me from the night. I was elated to be in the light. Then came the time when we stopped and the figure turned. I expected to wake up and be launched back into my horrendous reality, but this time was different. The vision continued as it had never done before. Through my dream, I felt excitement. The figure turned and I saw a woman. Her hood fell down and the morning sun shone upon her face. She was lovely and fair. Her smile was peaceful and gentle. She seemed to me the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on. I reached out to touch her, to see if that angel standing before me was real. I wanted to thank the one who saved me from the darkness. As I did, the sun and field faded away. All that was left was the girl and she too eventually vanished. I woke up. That was the last time I had that dream."

He stepped closer to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"When Link found me in that shack and put my mask on his face, I finally saw a chance to free myself. I planned to run out of there and pursue my liberation and revenge on the gods for shackling me with a miserable existence."

His hands tightened on my shoulder.

"Then I saw you, Zelda. I saw you and my blood ran cold. Through the eons of living as a mask, waiting for nothing, I never forgot the face of that girl. When I saw your face, I saw the face of my rescuer. I froze. I did not know what to do. Part of me wanted to grab you and beg you for help. Another part of me wanted to hold you close and feel that you were real and not some crazed wish of my imagination. Yet, the darkness in me was stronger and I ran from you. I ignored you when you came after me and told me to stop. I was stubborn. I was afraid. I wanted to run to the darkness. Following you meant that something would change, and I was not ready. Still, you grabbed my shirt and I could not ignore you any longer. The light was beckoning me and I finally listened. I came with you because I could not stand to run into the darkness anymore. Though my heart was still black and ugly, I had spent thousands of years living with my guilt and something inside me had already changed. When you said that you wanted to help me, I fell for you. I fell for what you had represented in my visions; peace, hope, running from darkness into light. You were the dawn of a new day for me, and I followed you because I believed in you.

I was still bullheaded and refused to tell you anything of my past because I was deeply ashamed. I did not want the angel of my visions to know what I had done. Soon though, I realized that I could not hide that from you and still expect the help that I needed. So I put all my trust in you and you did not disappoint me. You led me to redemption, salvation, peace…and love.

I do not know what powers above gave me dreams of you, but all my life, something told me that I would need you."

My knees were weak and I felt faint. After all this time, he had trusted me because he saw my face leading him to the light in a vision. Eons before I even existed, I held a special role in his destiny.

I felt a warm hand cover my cheek and a comforting pressure turn my face upwards. Fierce Deity's other hand placed itself over my other cheek when my eyes were upon him. His thumb ran smoothly over my lips and his fingertips nuzzled into my hair. Deep in his soul, I felt a sensation of calm strength, the peace before the storm. He pulled me towards him, so close and so intimately. My breath mingled with his and I longed for him to press his mouth against my own, but he only continued to stroke my cheeks, my lips.

As we stood there, reveling in each other before the storm came, I swear that I _saw _something flash in his eyes. His pale, translucent, blank eyes had been barred to me; I could see nothing in them, but only know his emotions by the bond made by the Triforce I carried and the Triforce Link carried. Yet in that moment, I saw through the blank canvas. For a brief second, the sheets over his eyes and been pulled and I saw a hint of the soul beneath.

The ground beneath us trembled, but the Fierce Deity did not take his eyes from me. His calm spirit, for once calm, did not break.

A single tear fell from my eye. His rough thumb wiped it away and he gave me a sad smile.

The moon was bathed in a bloody glow and the air became electric. The Fierce Deity reluctantly let go of my face and turned away from me.

I watched him as he walked into the plain, making sure that a safe distance was between his battle and us. An arm intertwined with mine and I registered Midna standing close to me. I could not take my eyes away from my white giant.

His hands traveled to his back and grabbed the green hilt of his sword. From the middle of the sky came a pillar of fire. It hit the earth like a bolt of lightning and came dangerously close to the Fierce Deity. He did not flinch or budge an inch.

The pillar swirled with dark purples, red, and oranges. It caused wind to bend the grass and make Fierce Deity's hair fly around him in a whirlwind of white.

I felt myself trembling beneath Midna's touch. She squeezed my arm to comfort me, but we both knew that when the pillar disappeared, our foe would be revealed.

The flames dispersed too quickly and my heart skipped too many beats.

As the flames died, a plume of smoke clouded the creature the fire had brought, from our view. Clothed in white, the Fierce Deity, god of war, deity of the moon, and sentinel of the night sky stood before it without an ounce of fear in his warrior's soul.

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OMG! WE ARE ALMOST TO THE EPIC SHOWDOWN!THE END IS NIGH! And the Fierce Deity and Zelda...omg. Can you tell I fangirl over them?

Okay, so I know that the whole Garo thing is very similar to what happens in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I didn't even notice that I had done that until I re-read it and I was like...oops! However, I just didn't have the heart to change it. I do hope that you enjoyed and please leave a review :)


	17. Soldier

**This is it! This is the last chapter that I posted before the story got deleted. I can't believe that after all this time, I've reached this point again! I am so excited! Thanks to all who have stuck with this story so far. Please enjoy this chapter and happy reading :) **

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**I could hardly breathe. **Anticipation thickened the air. The crimson sky shrouded the surface moon in a bloody light, setting the perfect stage for a final battle.

My lungs filled with air as my chest rose and fell, my breath in sync with Fierce Deity's. I could almost feel beads of sweat running down his brow. The tension that ran through his blood made my own muscles tighten with anxiety. His lust for war made me tremble and I could feel that desire echo deep in my bones.

We had never been more in tune.

The plume of inky smoke still lingered around the hidden enemy. I could not even fathom what we would soon face.

As the plumes began to swirl away, the outline of a tall, thin shape started to materialize. My mind immediately recalled the horrifying nightmare of Majora; I could still feel her tendrils wrapping themselves around my body, binding me and squeezing the breath out of me. The memory of her piercing screams filled my ears. A cold chill shivered through me. I was not prepared to meet her in my waking life.

Midna's arm was still laced through mine and I clenched it tightly, trying to gather my courage.

Sensing my fear, the Fierce Deity tore his eyes away from the thinning smoke. Blue met white and our souls locked together. For a second all I could see was his face, nothing more. His entire soul flooded mine. A rush of emotion nearly stopped my heart.

Fury, wrath, anger, sadness, and shame were first. I felt it ripping me apart. Never before had he made his emotions been so entirely my own.

Then the darkness turned over to hope, devotion, and a newfound fierce passion. A thousand pictures rushed across my sight and every single one of them was not from my perspective, but from his.

I saw myself standing before him, my mouth gaping and my body trembling. In my own eyes I saw desire and fear. That was our first disastrous meeting together.

Again I saw myself standing on the balcony of my room at the Lakeside Manor, bathed in moonlight.

Then again, my face was close to his, our noses nearly touching. I was red-cheeked and wide eyed, but ready to receive a kiss. Yet he was only teasing me that time.

I saw myself sitting on my parents' bed, recounting my sad story of their death. My eyes were swollen and pink from tears, but the one who beheld me thought that I was beautiful.

It went on and on. Every picture I saw was a memory of me, even some that I did not even remember; stolen glances when I was not looking and private thoughts of his that made me blush.

I was drinking in the depths of his heart, so deep and so secret. It was pure bliss. How could I let this end, I thought to myself. It could never end.

Yet the moment passed and I saw the surface of the moon once more. Fierce Deity, towering and proud, was turned to me still. The corners of his mouth were drawn into a faint smile. My heart and soul were warm as he gazed on me.

He was telling me in his own way what he felt for me. I thought that I would burst. In my own wordless way, I wanted to tell him my own feelings, but if he already knew, I was not to know.

With a final sad smile, the Fierce Deity released his soul from mine. Our connection was severed. I could feel nothing from him anymore. His smile tightened into a grimace and his face grew hard and cold.

Fierce Deity was prepared to battle. He turned away from me, ready to play his role as the fierce god of war.

The smoke had cleared. Midna hissed an angry curse beside me. I could only imagine how Fierce Deity was reacting.

It was Taran. His thin body was silhouetted against the scarlet sky. Elegant hands were clasped behind his back and he had an almost pleasant grin upon his face, as though he were enormously pleased to see us all there.

Yet there was something amiss. His skin was too pale and was covered with blotchy patches of red and violet. Even his hollow eyes were alive with yellow and green…

My blood ran cold as I thought of Majora. The spell had been completed. He looked like a shadow of his sorceress.

"Here we are once again, my brother." The words came from Taran's mouth, but not with his voice.

It was the woman's voice again! The cold, high, voice that made every hair on my body stand up.

"You have possessed this man!" the Fierce Deity roared. I did not have to be connected to him to understand his rage. The already tense air was electric with hate and unadulterated lust for vengeance.

Majora pulled Taran's face into a wicked grimace.

"Of course I did! He was so willing to please his mistress. This man is my puppet. His body belongs to me now," she said, using Taran's face to express her delight in her faithful servant. Majora used Taran's legs to saunter over to the Fierce Deity. He backed away, looking down upon the possessed Taran with horror.

My skin was crawling with disgust! What had she done to Taran?

"Oh don't look so shocked," she said slyly. "It's not like you aren't doing the very same, brother; taking a mortal's body to achieve your own will…we have always been more alike than you'd care to admit."

Her eyes, Taran's eyes, glanced up at him coyly. Fierce Deity stood as still as a mountain, but I saw his fingers twitching, wanting to grab the sword.

"I killed you a hundred years ago. How have you done this?" he growled. "What black magic has brought you back from death?"

Taran was whirled around as Majora flung herself onto Fierce Deity's chest. Majora made Taran's fingers clutch at Fierce Deity's skin and his eyes were wild with insanity.

"Ikana!" she screeched into his face. "Ikana is more than you can ever dream, brother. Not even the gods who created us can fathom the might of Ikana. Ikana is pure. Ikana is darkness realized. Ikana is life and Ikana is death. Ikana is mother and Ikana is father. Ikana is a god. _Ikana is all!_"

Her fingers dug into her brother's cheeks. Taran was trembling all over. Fierce Deity made no move to push Taran's body away, but his glare could have killed the one who possessed it.

"Ikana is a scourge. It is nothing but filth that spewed forth from your corrupted soul."

"Who are you to make a judgment of a corrupted soul, Astraeus" she spat. "You, whose history is stained with blood and war, cannot kneel before our fathers and claim that you are innocent. You are just as damned as I am."

Like a flash of lightning, the Fierce Deity swung his sword out in one swift motion. Majora stumbled back, quicker than the real Taran could have, and hissed at him like a snake.

"Shall we dance, brother?" Majora asked menacingly.

Fierce Deity said nothing, but held his sword high over his shoulders. The blade gleamed like fire. His armor shone red in the light of the sky.

Astraeus, the god of war, was in his domain, on his moon. The ancient god had returned.

I trembled as I beheld him.

Majora threw Taran's arms out in front of her, screaming out in her terrible language. With every evil word spoken, Taran's arms elongated and stretched. His fingers melded together until they were a sickening muddle of bones. I felt my stomach heave and churn as Taran's limbs were changed into Majora's tendrils.

Fierce Deity's face was twisted with wrath and revulsion. In sheer anger, he slammed his sword against the ground and then swung it in a sweeping arc towards Majora. It whirled through the air, making a heavy whistling noise, and almost cleaved Taran's torso in half. Majora was fast and she gracefully bent back Taran's spine, the steel coming a hair's width from brushing her nose.

She snapped back into place and slung her new weapons like whips. With a terrifying shriek, she lunged towards Fierce Deity, cracking her tendrils in the air.

The fight had begun.

The white giant took a step and then launched himself above Majora's head, right into the red sky. His sword was brandished, poised behind his back and ready to strike. Majora was crouched beneath him, whipping her arms about.

His feet landed on her chest, nearly knocking her to the ground. Majora stumbled for a moment, but quickly lashed out and caught him around his leg. She yanked him and he fell onto his back with a thundering crash.

Blows fell onto him as he tried to recover. With each snap of her whip arms against his body, she laughed aloud.

Her victory did not last for long; a sword came out of nowhere and clubbed her against Taran's face. Fierce Deity was scrambling to his feet, sword in hand. He had not let his blade drop from his grasp.

Majora stumbled back, grabbing her face and howling like an animal. The blow should have been enough to take off Taran's head, but Majora made him strong.

Fierce Deity's arms were covered in cuts; his sleeves were torn and ragged, but he did not even notice. A devious grin split his face, the joy of vengeance and battle plain on his face. He swung his sword in a figure eight and charged at Majora, still nursing her wounds. She saw his attack and braced herself for the impact.

The battle went on and on. Never before had I seen such raw power. With every move he made, the Fierce Deity grew stronger and stronger. Majora only faltered more and more with each blow from Fierce Deity's sword.

He was the god of war, doing what he was created to do. His body moved perfectly and powerfully. Each muscle tuned into the other, carrying out each move with inhumane force.

No mortal could have stood against him and lived. Not even another immortal could equal the mighty god Astraeus.

For hours it seemed we watched them fight. Sweat poured from Fierce Deity's skin, but he never failed. Majora was weakening. Her face was etched with pain, yet she did not yield to defeat. In her eyes burned a determination as fierce as her enemy's.

I watched as she saw an opening and wrapped her tendrils around Fierce Deity's arms, ensnaring him in her horrid grip. His feet left the ground as Majora pulled his arms away from his body, threatening to rip them off his torso. They tightened like vices around his biceps and wrists. I could see his face turning red and his eyes closed in pain. His hands shook violently. Majora began to laugh again. With a thud, Fierce Deity's sword fell from his left hand and onto the ground. Majora screeched with glee. She jerked Fierce Deity around, shaking him like a rag doll and jeering at him.

Enraged, Fierce Deity roared like a beast and smashed a massive brown boot into her chest, knocking the breath from her lungs. She gasped for air as she fell onto her backside. Her grip on Fierce Deity was released and he landed on his knees.

His fingers found the sword and he grasped it, pulling the blade into the air and bringing it down over Majora.

A horrific scream filled my ears. Majora was thrashing around the grass, blood spurting everywhere.

Taran's right arm was gone, completely cut off at the shoulder. Fierce Deity's pale sword was stained with dark blood.

He took no time to show any mercy. His boot caught Taran's throat and he harshly pushed Majora to the ground. Her screams were cut off and she looked up at him with Taran's eyes.

Fierce Deity took the hilt of his sword in both of his great hands. Majora's eyes widened as she saw her second death approaching.

Sword sailed through the air, coming ever closer to the fragile, mortal body that Majora used to fight Fierce Deity. I felt my heart settle, knowing that it would be over in seconds.

From the left came a flash of movement. Like a snake striking came Majora's remaining arm. It slung around and caught Fierce Deity on the left side of his face.

The blow was so strong that Fierce Deity was thrown to the side.

Yet as I watched him fall, a change was taking place.

Time slowed down. Everything was happening so slowly.

The very edge of Fierce Deity's face seemed to lift up. I realized with a shock that I was watching not his face come up, but the _mask itself_ coming off! I saw the very slightest hint of green appear on his shoulder.

Years seemed to pass as the Fierce Deity fell sideways. His arms and legs were flailing helplessly and his torso twisted around. His sword was flying out of his hand, his fingers no longer able to hold it.

The mask peeled off inch by inch, freeing itself from Link. With every second that the mask came off, Link himself was starting to reappear. White tunic changed into green. Limbs shortened and thinned. White hair turned dirty blonde.

Fierce Deity was disappearing before my very eyes. I shook my head in horrified disbelief.

Time snapped back to the present. I was utterly shocked to find myself looking at a fully restored Link. The mask sailed away from Link's face and went skittering across the grass.

Link hit the ground and skidded a few feet, landing close to Fierce Deity's sword.

"LINK!" Midna screamed. She sounded miles away. I felt her rush past me, trying to get to Link.

Link rolled onto his back, taking in huge gasps of air. His blue eyes frantically took in his surroundings, confusion and fear written on his face.

Majora was now on her feet, her tendril clutching at the bleeding stump on her shoulder. Her face, Taran's face, looked down on Link with astonishment. Her eyes caught Midna running towards them and she threw her arm up. Midna froze, unable to move.

Majora turned away from Midna and looked to her right, seeing Fierce Deity's mask lying vulnerably on the ground.

A wicked looked crossed over her face. She stumbled over to the Fierce Deity mask.

It looked just as it had weeks ago when it was lying amidst rotting wood and snow; a wooden mask, painted with red and blue slashes. Fake white hair fell over the angry red brows and the black eyes stared up at the sky.

I knew what she was going to do seconds before it happened. My legs began to run towards the mask. Tears were streaming down my cheeks and I was screaming something incoherent, too frantic to form words. My hand was stretched out towards the mask.

Majora was too fast for me. She raised her arm and froze my steps. All I could do was stand there and cry out.

In Taran's body, she lifted his leg and crushed the mask underneath his foot.

The fragile wood of the mask splintered and broke. It split right down the middle, breaking the mask into two pieces.

For half a moment, nothing happened. Then the mask turned a bright, glowing white. The light on the mask faded and to my pain, nothing remained.

It was just two pieces of blank wood.

I felt the moon beneath my feet quake and tremble. The air moved with a torrent of wind. All three of us were thrown to our feet by the force of Fierce Deity's death.

The moon felt his death. The moon was mourning…

I felt his death. Too anguished to even cry, I climbed to my feet and tried to charge towards Majora. I was blinded by pain; I had it in my mind to kill Majora myself.

Her Ikana stopped me and threw me back down to the ground. Midna was held to the ground as well, still many feet away from Link.

The boy was trying to stand to his feet. His skin was ashen and dark gray circles hung under his eyes. He looked on the verge of death.

With a pang of sadness and guilt, I remembered that he in fact was on the threshold of dying.

Link could not find his footing. His feet kept slipping beneath him and he did not have the strength to carry himself. He fell onto his knees and planted his hands into the ground. The poor boy was still heavily panting as though he could not take a deep breath.

Majora looked at him like a piece of meat.

"You're the little boy that Astraeus used to kill me! Now I shall use Taran to kill you!" Majora yelled at him in her cold voice. Midna glared daggers at Majora.

The sorceress mustered her remaining strength and ran wildly towards Link. When she got close, she launched herself off the ground.

She soared over Link, her tendril pointed like a sword, ready to drive straight through his heart.

He looked up at her with his ocean blue eyes and painfully turned himself over to the right.

All I saw was the gleaming, double helix sword of the Fierce Deity come out of nowhere. In the light of the blood red sky, Majora in Taran's body fell on top of Link. Her scream rent the air as the pale sword pierced straight through her chest. I saw the point of the blade shear through skin and bone, coming out of her back.

The Ikana magic holding us down was lifted as Majora's spirit left Taran's lifeless body. Midna and I rushed to our feet and ran over to Link.

By the grace of the goddesses, Link had landed next to Fierce Deity's fallen sword. At the very last second, he regained enough strength to lift that heavy blade and use it against Majora.

When we got to him, he was weakly attempting to push Taran's body off his chest. The hilt of the massive sword was stuck in the crook of his arm and he had not enough energy to move both sword and body an inch.

Midna carelessly shoved Taran off her love and threw herself onto him.

Her cries of joy were muffled as she buried her face into his neck. Link kindly put his arms around her and patted her on the back.

I met his eyes and he gave me a pleasant smile. My lips twitched as I tried to return his smile, but it was all I could do to keep from breaking down and weeping. As much as I was thrilled to see Link returned, Fierce Deity was gone.

My knees bent as I knelt down to grab Link's hand, to welcome him back into the world, but I could not help myself. I had to see what remained of Fierce Deity's mask.

I stood up and ran to where the remains were, my hands fumbling around in my cloak pockets. My trembling fingers found the Ocarina of Time and I pulled it out.

My shaking hands could hardly play the tune, but I sat down in the grass and played the Song of Healing to the broken pieces of wood, hoping beyond hope that somehow they could restore the mask and bring back the Fierce Deity.

The mask was created by a song, was it not? Could it not be recreated by what I firmly believed was the song that made the mask in the first place?

Tried as I might, the mask never mended. It remained a shattered thing, only pieces of lifeless wood.

I slowly put the Ocarina back into my pockets and forlornly picked up the pieces of mask in my hands.

My task of healing the moon had failed. Fierce Deity died still cursed, still under his ancient punishment.

"My, my! What sort of nonsense happened here?"

My heart jumped at the sudden voice. I raised my eyes from the broken mask and saw a grinning face and a pair of wringing hands.

"Zelda!" I heard Midna shout from behind me. "What is THAT?"

I laughed bitterly. "That is the Happy Mask Salesman, Midna."

"That means nothing to me, Zelda. Who IS he?"

I ignored her, too exhausted to try and explain to her who the Happy Mask Salesman was. At the moment I disliked him as much as I hated Majora.

He laughed his eerie laugh and extended his hand to me. I declined his offer, wanting to sit on the grass rather than give him the respect of standing up.

"You aren't very happy with me, are you Princess?" He asked joyfully.

"Asclepius," I muttered. It was not a question.

The mask salesman nodded in confirmation. I looked away from him and watched my thumbs run over the grainy wood of the mask.

"You told me to play the Song of Healing when I saw Fierce Deity, so I obeyed you. It hurt him. It made his face ache…that was the power of the song working on him, extricating him from Link. You asked this knowing that eventually he would battle Majora again…you knew that the song was the key to his and Link's freedom. You knew this because you were the one that cursed him long ago. You created the song to heal the land of Majora and Astraeus' wars by changing them into masks…"

I looked back up at him, his face unchanged and still grinning. His smile angered me. It mocked my pain.

"You used me." I accused. "You knew that I would do anything that I thought might help him and Link, so you took advantage of my trust in you. If I had never played the Song of Healing, then the mask never would have loosened and Fierce Deity would have won that battle."

I was incredulous! I was suddenly on my feet, calmly and coolly spouting my accusations at the ancient god of humanity.

"If it had not been for you, he would never have died! You used me to kill your brother!"

Asclepius wrung his hands nervously, his body rocking back and forth. The masks on his pack swayed and threatened to fall off.

"Of course I did, Princess. It is my duty to protect the people, is it not?"

"The people of Termina have no knowledge of you or your siblings anymore. How could they be hurt by him?"

The mask salesman paused his swaying and contemplated my words with a smirk.

"That may be true, Princess, but he had to pay for his crimes. It would not do to let him be free and go unpunished. I tried to make sure of that a hundred years ago when I went to visit the old Zelda, but you just had to interfere with my plans, didn't you?"

"Excuse me, but what do you mean by that?" I questioned.

"Princess, did you ever wonder why the Ocarina of Time was hidden? Did you ever question why pages were ripped out of a certain family fairy tale book?"

I was taken aback. How did he know such things?

"Well it was because of me," he blurted, not giving me a chance to answer.

"When I discovered that the mask had found its way to Hyrule by way of the young Hero named Link, I traveled to Hyrule myself to try and look for the mask. I visited Zelda, by then a young woman, and asked her if she had caught wind of any dangerous masks in the land. Her face turned as white as snow and she looked oh-so terrified! It took a few moments of prying until she finally confessed that she was hiding a terrible secret in the woods not too far from her castle.

Well I could sense that she was deeply frightened of the Fierce Deity mask, so I used her fear. I confided in her that the secret to freeing the mask was using a sacred, powerful instrument and playing the Song of Healing on such an instrument. I pretended that I had no knowledge of the Ocarina of Time, but of course I knew. There is not much I don't know…

I saw that she had the old book, "Tales of Termina," in her possession. Within that book is a little story titled "the Tale of the Two Dancing Giants," and it is a legend based on Majora and Astraeus' story. I told Zelda that the tale was absolutely true and that having that lying around the castle would be dangerous because then anybody could find out about the Fierce Deity. In reality that would have been highly unlikely, but Zelda was so gullible in her fear. So she hid her Ocarina and ripped the pages out of the fairy tale book."

I remembered my dreams, when Zelda had tried so hard to communicate with me. It was all clear now, in retrospect. She had been trying to lead me to the Tales of Termina and to the Ocarina.

"She helped me, Zelda did. She came to me in dreams and guided me to the Ocarina." My throat tightened with emotion. "Somehow she knew that Link was in trouble and she wanted to help him."

"Yes, she helped you ruin everything. No matter! I've fixed it and now both Astraeus and Majora are paying their rightful dues for eternity."

It did not seem right to me. It seemed a terrible waste. A few tears gathered in the corner of my eyes.

"He could have been redeemed. Helena—"

"No!" commanded Asclepius. "Astraeus was too far gone for redemption and he was undeserving. Helena is also dead to me. She has paid for her disobedience and deserves little less than her brother and sister. I am the only god left now…"

He laughed, a different laugh. It was heavy and mirthless.

"Who would have thought that Asclepius would be the most powerful deity in the end?" He asked himself.

"You are not the most powerful," I answered. "You're just the most clever."

"Perhaps I am," he responded with glee. The Happy Mask Salesman pranced past me. I turned and watched him as he came right up to Midna and Link. They both regarded him with apprehension and fascination.

As I game to where Asclepius stood over Midna and Link, I heard the Hylian boy ask, "have we ever met before?"

"In a different lifetime," was the cryptic response. Link looked uneasy and dared not venture another question.

I stood beside Asclepius, noticing for the first time how short he was. The illusion of the giant pack strapped to his shoulders made him look ten feet tall.

"Princess, there is still life left in this man, believe it or not," I heard him say to me. He gestured to Taran's body, now free of Majora's possession.

"Would you care to spare his life?"

My eyes wandered to the body, still impaled on the sword. Taran's eyes were closed and his arm and legs were sprawled limply over the ground. How could there still be lingering life in this man?

I contemplated what he had done to me; he killed my parents, cursed my council, tried to force me into a marriage, and had future plans to do away with me. His wife was subject to his madness and Kael was a victim of his abuse.

Normally, I would have been merciful. It was my duty and my nature to show mercy, but I just could not do it now.

"If you believe that Astraeus cannot be redeemed and does not deserve a second chance, then you must consider him equally as guilty. I would not show him mercy. It is far more than he deserves."

"Oh Princess," Asclepius chuckled. "Mercy is far more than any of you mortals deserve, yet it is freely given. It is fallen gods who do not deserve it."

As he spoke, I watched him pull out his own cloak, a clay ocarina and somehow, the two broken pieces of mask. Midna, Link, and I watched as the Happy Mask Salesman played the Song of Healing. The haunting melody caused the mask to glow a soft blue. Taran's broken body also turned a soft blue and it became as wispy as a ghost. Asclepius continued to play his song and Taran's ghost body was sucked into the wood.

The broken pieces of wood melded together and became one. A new shape formed from the old one and soon a mask in the likeness of Taran, the Ambassador of Termina and last Ikana sorcerer was made.

"A just punishment, I believe, is to be forever frozen," said the Happy Mask Salesman with his perpetual smile.

I walked to where the body had once been and my feeble arms attempted to pick the sword up. It was my one token of Fierce Deity. Link, now looking more like his old self, stood shakily to his feet and helped my hold the sword up. Midna followed him and without hesitation, helped us hold the heavy blade.

Touched, I nodded my thanks to her. She reached her hand over to me and kindly closed her fingers around my shoulder.

He took the Taran mask and placed it on a hollow spot on his pack. The mask looked as arrogant as Taran had been in real life. I wondered if his mask would have any kind of power to it at all. As I watched him work, I was drawn to his smile. I had to ask him one last question.

"Why do you smile?"

"I smile because happiness if just a mask to hide the truth. Humans put on faces to disguise their pain, their anger, their bitterness, and despair. These emotions are what make them human. Happiness in this world, or any world, is an idea that is bought by fools and I am the one to sell it to them. I smile because I am the god of humanity and therefore, I must wear a mask of my own."

"What a sad deity you are," I answered quietly. "You feel what the worst of humanity feels and you do not believe in happiness. It is only a farce to you. Your mask is a smile, but you are miserable on the inside."

The Happy Mask Salesman nodded, his smile bigger than ever before to prove my point.

"That was not what you were created for," I argued gently, now suddenly sorry for him.

**We left the moon. **It was close to dawn back on the earth. After my last statement, Asclepius had laughed his chilling laugh and everything grew dark. The trio suddenly found ourselves standing on the edge of the strange forest, the Fierce Deity sword still in hand and my army all around us.

Our sudden appearance caused quite a disturbance for everyone. After my soldiers had gotten over the shock of my appearing out of thin air in the middle of their camp, I was taken to my council. They had sent the army after me, a day behind Fierce Deity and Midna.

They seemed highly relieved to find Link in place of Fierce Deity. In order to convince them not to go to war with Termina over my abduction, the three of us convinced them that Link had heard of my attacker and had come to save me himself. We told Caldwell and the rest that Link had rescued me from Taran and that the Fierce Deity had decided to live there and never return to Hyrule.

They seemed pleased by that.

**Dawn broke and the day passed **as though I were in a dream. My life did not seem real anymore. I wandered around in a daze, counting the hours until we were back in Hyrule.

The journey back home took most of the day. When we arrived, I took my leave of Midna and Link, giving them permission to stay at the Castle to rest that night. When I had left them to celebrate their reunion, I went to the stable and saddled up my gray mare.

The Lakeside Manor was my destination. I was inexplicably drawn there. After my parents' deaths, I refused to ever go back. It was a tomb of sadness and excruciating memories.

Yet after losing the Fierce Deity, I could not stay away.

The ride was long and difficult. The snowstorm had piled the drifts so deeply that my mare had trouble getting through them, but I pushed her on. I had to go to the Manor.

It was nearly midnight when I got there. My clothes were soaking wet from the snow and I felt terribly ill.

I wandered like a redead through the hallways of the lonely Manor, mustering up a few servants on the way to my room. A bath was made for me and fresh nightclothes were set out on my bed.

When I was clean and dry and dressed in my nightgown, I pulled up my thick quilt and lay down on my bed.

Sleep refused to come. Yesterday's events were playing over and over again in my head. The moment where Majora had crushed the Fierce Deity's Mask beneath her heel made my very soul ache every time I remembered it. I shoved my head beneath a pillow and begged to goddesses to free me from my thoughts.

It would not work. I threw my pillow on the ground and sat up.

The door of my balcony let in the light from the night sky. I pulled back my covers and slipped my feet into a pair of warm boots that sat by my bed.

I silently crept to the door and pushed it aside. The world outside was aglow with a crisp, clean sheet of white snow. Stars above me glittered like jewels. I stepped out onto the balcony to get a closer look.

I wanted to see the moon. My eyes searched the sky, remembering how the glorious full moon reflected on the rippling lake that first night that I had spent with the Fierce Deity.

The sky was alive with stars, but with a sinking despair I came to realize that there was no more moon.

The cycle had ended and the sky was dark and empty of the moon.

I remembered when I was rescued from Taran's castle how I watched the clouds cover up the tiny, crescent moon. That had been my terrible omen that something terrible would take place. The moon was swallowed by the beast.

The moon was dead.

Fierce Deity was dead.

I somehow stumbled back into my bed, my eyes blinded with tears and my throat filled with sobs. For a long time I laid upon my pillows and mourned the loss of the Fierce Deity.

I wept for the precious little time I spent with him. You should not be crying for him like this, commanded a rational voice in my head. You did not love him, you were just infatuated with the man. That very well may have been true, but I had felt his soul burning in mine! Would that not count for something?

Sleep eventually came to me. My dreams were not recreations of Fierce Deity's murder; rather they were scenes from Termina.

I dreamt of myself walking though the fields of the moon with Zelda, my arm in hers. She smiled at me with gentleness and pity.

We walked on, striding under the deep azure sky of the moon. Both of us looked up as we saw the army of Garo fly across the heavens, their debt finally paid as the Ikana scourge left the world.

As we watched, I felt a little hand tug at my skirt. Zelda was suddenly gone as I turned to see if she had been the one to touch me.

I was not alone though. Four children stood before me. They were the children of the moon.

The silver haired child had his small hands buried deep in the folds of my dress. He looked up at me, eyes full of innocence and wisdom.

"The moon was calling the father home," he whispered in his soft voice. "He had to answer the call of his moon."

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THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! STAY TUNED!


	18. Spring

**I can't believe that I'm here right now. This chapter was never posted in the original draft. My story was deleted before I could finish. Now, the end is very near. I'm almost done! So, to those who read this story originally, here is the chapter that was never posted! To those who are reading this story for the first time, I hope that you've enjoyed it so far. Thanks for sticking with me to the end! This is not the last chapter, so stick around for one more. We're almost through! Please enjoy and happy reading :)**

* * *

"_Now my children, hear the tale of wicked giants, magical songs, and one brave young hero. Long ago, before our beloved Termina came to be, there was a land that was peaceful and good. There were many beautiful farms and lovely forests and fair kings in marble castles and of course, the wonderful people. The inhabitants of this kingdom lived happily until one day, a shadow was cast over the sun and the land fell into darkness. _

_There was a great rumbling over the land and the ground shook like an earthquake. To the good people's terror, they saw what had made the sun go dark and the earth tremble. _

_It was two, terrible giants! A single step from one of their massive, hairy feet could squash a whole house! Their great big heads were just big enough to block out the sunlight. Their hands could rip trees right from the roots and their teeth could use the branches as toothpicks. They each had ugly, disfigured faces that would send grown men running away in fright and had mothers and daughters weeping for their lives. _

_Now these giants weren't friendly or helpful to the people of the land. No, not at all! They stomped through the land, destroying villages with their feet and ripping up lovely forests with their hands. Whole herds of sheep and cows and goats would be gobbled up by their greedy mouths and the giants would crush the fields of wheat and corn and barley, leaving nothing left for the good people of the land to eat for themselves. _

_Very soon, the land was nothing but dirt and rock. The giants had destroyed the life in the land. Kings from all over sent their armies to fight the hungry enemies, but nothing could defeat the might of the giants. A single blow from one enormous fist would send hundreds of men to their graves. _

_Just as the earth was dead, so were the soldiers of all the armies. The fair kings fled their marble castles. When the good people saw that their kings had deserted them, all hope was lost. The giants, who had eaten everything that could be eaten in the land, began to feast upon the people. Every single person in that land went into hiding, for fear of being eaten. They lived in dark, dank caves-caves so small that the giants could not stick their mean fingers in the entrances and try to dig them out and eat them._

_I am sorry to frighten you, children, with my talk of terrible times for the land. Take heart, because my story is not yet complete. _

_The two giants never had a better time in their lives. They found the dirt and the rocks to be quite comfortable. It was also a jolly time for them, hunting down innocent people and making a meal out of them. They decided to stay until all the rest of the people were eaten. _

_Many years then passed since the giants first thundered their way across the fields and forests. No man or woman or beast stepped foot into the boundaries of that forsaken place, not until a young stranger wandered his way into the giants' realm. _

_He smiled to himself as his eyes looked upon the silent wasteland. The young stranger had nothing dangerous with him; no swords or spears or arrows. All he had were the pack on his shoulders and a little drum clutched in his hands. The young stranger walked, walked, walked for miles. His only companions were the dust and the wind. _

_Somewhere far off, the scent of a human wafted over the hungry snouts of the starving giants. They had not found a human for years. _

_The young stranger kept walking, walking, walking until he felt the barren ground shaking underneath his tired feet. His eyes looked to the horizon and there he saw the black silhouettes of two massive things running right for him. The smile on his face widened and he happily plopped himself right down in the dirt. _

_The giants were soon upon him, standing over him and arguing violently about who would be the first to take a bite out of him. The stranger merely rested his chin in hands and gave a great yawn as the two beasts argued over his demise. _

_This went on for hours, as giants are not creatures of great intelligence and quickly lose sight of the real argument at hand and resort to an endless competition of name calling, completely forgetting why they quarreled in the first place. It was during this childish banter that the stranger grew weary of listening to them and decided that the time was right for him to speak up. _

"_My hideous friends," he called out jovially. "I know it is a pressing matter, who eats me first, but I do have one simple request before my life is ended by your ravenous appetites." _

_The two giants stopped their game and looked dumbly down at the tiny human by their feet. _

"_The food be talkin'," one of them grumbled in a gravely voice. "The food ain't supposed to be doin' that." _

"_Aye," replied the other. "Why aren't ye screaming and runnin' about? It's more fun that way." _

"_Well my ugly faced fiends, I would be screaming and running away in terror, but I am afraid that I am quite tired from my long journey here and I do not have the strength to die noisily. However, I do have just enough energy left inside me for one activity." _

_With that, he slammed his drum on the ground and beamed up at the two bemused giants. _

"_Whassat?" Cried the uglier of the two, pointing a tremendous finger at the tiny instrument. _

"_It is called a drum, sir," replied the youth proudly._

"_Whassit do?" Asked the other giant. _

"_Music." Said the stranger. His face was full of a smile. "Would you like to hear my music?_

"_Music…" Mused the giants. "We ain't never heard of this music before." _

"_Then before you gobble me down for dinner, I request that you accept my offering of music to you both. May I play my drum?" He asked, very politely. _

_The giants' curiosity over the mysterious thing called music was greater than their greedy stomachs' need for dinner. _

"_YES, YES!" They shouted, full of excitement. "PLAY US THIS MUSIC!" _

_The young man smiled happily and began to beat out a simple rhythm on his drum. _

_At first the giants did not know what to think. They shifted their feet around and stared at the young stranger. Then the drumming became louder and faster, the rhythm more complicated. Their feet shifted with the timing of the drum. What was happening to them, they wondered dimly. They could not help but move with the drums, but why? _

_Faster and faster went the drum and faster did the feet of the giants move. The rhythm was strong and the beat was deep. The giants flailed their arms and feet, trying to keep up with the stranger's music. _

_Minutes turned to hours. The sound of one drum became the sound of hundreds of drums, all beating out intoxicating rhythms. The giants began a crazed dance, wanting nothing more than to be one with the music. Their minds knew nothing else but the song. _

_3 days passed as the giants danced. They did not stop for food. They did not stop for water. They did not stop to sleep. They danced and danced and danced, nothing else mattering but the music of the drums. If the drums were to stop, they would surely die. _

_All the while, the young stranger patiently played his song. He never once faltered. Not a single beat was missed. He did not feel the need to rest or eat, only play his song to the wildly dancing giants. _

_After three days of endless music and dance, the giants could not take another step. They fell to the ground, one after the other. A great crash shook the land as their massive bodies tumbled to the ground. _

_The young man simply looked up from his drum and smiled. He set aside his instrument and walked over to the prone bodies of the giants. The two great menaces were dead! As he looked on, the bodies began to twist and shrink. They became smaller and smaller, only their faces remaining the same, until the bodies turned into two masks. The stranger smiled and walked away. _

_The stranger then wandered around the land, searching for survivors, to tell them the wonderful news of the fallen giants! There were no more than one hundred people that he found. He asked them all to come see the fallen enemies. When the people saw that the giants were indeed dead and only harmless masks, they rejoiced! Oh how they rejoiced. Immediately, they made plans to start their land anew. They begged the young stranger to stay and be their king, but he denied them, saying that he had other important business to attend to elsewhere. Before they could protest, he vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. _

_However, the one hundred people still gathered together and created a whole new life for themselves. They took the masks that had once been the giants and displayed them in the new city square, never letting themselves forget their salvation. _

_Now you see children, in Termina we have a tradition called the Carnival of Time. We wear masks to represent the four gods who created our land. Masks are very important to our people. We wear them to remember the hardships that we have endured and to pay homage to our four fathers who help us through all bad times and bless us in good times. Just like the people of the land kept the masks to remember their savior, we use masks to remember our gods. _

_My tale is done, children. It is time to rest our eyes and find sleep. When we dream tonight, let us dream of powerful, wonderful things. Let us dream of music."_

This was the Tale of the Two Dancing Giants, the very one that the Happy Mask Salesman used to send my ancestor into a paranoid fear. This innocent children's tale reflected the horror that two very real deities once inflicted upon their land.

The words faded into the depths of my consciousness as sorrowful feelings rose to the surface. The story was far from what actually happened, but there were moments of truth, haunting truth, that were enough to make the story painful for me to read the first time. It was several days after the battle on the moon when I remembered that the old pieces of paper were still stuffed in the pocket of my cloak, on the Happy Mask Salesman's orders.

I knew every single word of the Tale of Two Dancing Giants by heart. No longer did I need to scan my eyes over the old, yellowing paper to know the story. The paper that the words were written on was neatly repaired back into the pages of the book. It had taken me a few weeks, but the story was engraved into my mind. I stored the book in my personal library at the Castle, waiting for future generations to read the tales. The story of the giants lived on in my mind because I desperately wanted to hold on to any piece of the Fierce Deity that I could.

Winter, which I once loved so much, faded into an endless, monotonous cycle of white snow and dreary skies. The cold months dragged themselves into a rainy spring that did nothing to lighten my spirits. Even now, the light mist from a recent storm was gently caressing my face as I rode across a vibrantly green Hyrule field, my grey mare plodding along on the sodden ground. Dark ominous clouds loomed in the horizon, threatening to bring a new rainstorm. Thunder rumbled like an angry dragon in the distance. My stomach gave a lurch as I remembered the Fierce Deity's voice, powerful and dangerous like thunder.

I shook my head and dug my heels into my mare's sides, urging her to go faster, urging my mind to push away thoughts of him.

A whole season had passed since his demise. In the time between then and now, Hyrule and its Princess had seen their fair share of changes.

A few days after Fierce Deity's death, after I had closed myself in the Lakeside Manor and refused to emerge, I received some startling news.

A white-faced servant found me in my office, curled up in a winged armchair and blankly staring at the floor. He stammered that the young man had awoken from his deathly sleep.

I stared at him before it registered in my mind to whom the "young man" he was referring.

Kael.

"Oh!" I said, the surprise of the news sharply pulling me out of my deep despair. I had nearly forgotten about that poor boy. Shame at myself for wallowing in my own misery thawed my heart of the numbness that I had succumbed to. It was the first emotion I had felt since the night I dreamt of the Garo and the Lunar children.

I was a Princess, the caretaker of my kingdom. I could not lose myself in grief any longer.

Before long, I was in my sleigh, racing back to the castle to speak with a newly healed Kael.

I found the boy lying in bed, having been moved from the Hospital wing to the room he had stayed in when his father first journeyed to my land.

That time seemed so far away.

His worried green eyes found me when I entered the room. Kael's already pale skin turned a few shades lighter and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Zelda—Princess! I…please don't punish me! I tried to warn you but—my father, he's done terrible things—" His voice suddenly trailed off and he clamped his mouth shut.

I stared down at the young man, still so much a child, and my heart gushed with warm, sympathetic feelings. Was I not so different from him, orphaned at a young age, alone in the world without close family? Were not our heartaches intertwined because of the same cruel, twisted man?

A chair sat close by his bed and I sat myself down in it, Kael's eyes watching my every move.

"Punish you?" I asked gently. "Why would I do such a thing?"

Kael did not respond. He nervously chewed his bottom lip and his eyes darted to the open door and then back to my face.

"You think that I would punish you because of your father?" I inquired.

Again, Kael refused to answer me and kept his lips shut tighter than an oyster.

It finally dawned on me why he was so tight-lipped.

He still believed his father to be alive, a curse ready to take him if he was insubordinate.

The boy's hand was resting on the soft blankets and I found myself grasping it tenderly with my fingers.

"Kael," I began, not sure of how to bear the news of a parent's death to a child. "Your father cannot hurt you any longer. You woke up because his power over you is no more. You see…"

My voice broke. I felt no grief for Taran's soul, barely alive and now pathetically existing inside a wooden mask. How could I do this without showing my extreme dislike for Kael's father?

"Is he dead?"

Kael's soft voice ventured the question before I could form a single word.

"He is as good as dead," I muttered before realizing how tactless my words were and how bitter I sounded. My eyes frantically looked over to Kael, expecting him to be angry, but his face remained impassive, curious even.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sounding as though he were asking me to explain a confusing mathematical problem to him.

I reluctantly launched into the story of what happened on the moon, having to pause at times to allow the waves of gloom to pass as I recounted that traumatic experience. Kael listened with patience, his curious expression never changing. I skimmed the details of Taran's gruesome transformation into Majora and mentioned his father's body impaled on Fierce Deity's sword quickly, as if I hoped Kael to not hear it.

By the end of it, we were both teary eyed and breathless.

"I knew it all along," he whispered, as though he were still afraid of his father's wrath. "I knew that Ikana was evil." Kael's eyes once more darted to the open door. I suddenly realized that he was silently asking me to close it. My fingers snapped and my own brand of magic caused the door to shut with a dull thud.

"Can I confess something to you," he asked, his voice so quiet that I had to lean in to hear him.

"I think my father killed my mother…I think that because she was fine and then all of a sudden she was dead. I don't know how he did it but…I have a feeling…" Kael hissed, his eyes wide and fearful. My heart wrenched. I thought of telling him how his father killed my parents and how his mother's death was vital for Taran procuring a spot on my throne and how they all died for an empty cause in the end, but I decided to spare him until he was older, more mature and better equipped to handle such horrors.

I simply nodded my head, acknowledging that I believed him.

"So I was scared of him," Kael continued. "I did everything he told me to…I didn't want to go the way of my mother if I didn't help him and let him use me as a channel, but I still loved him, despite it all, and I hoped that if I obeyed, if I pleased him then he would change and…"

My grasp on Kael's hand was loosened as the boy shot up in bed and grabbed handfuls of jet-black hair in his fingers.

"And now, I'm going to be punished!" His voice, louder than I had ever heard it, was full of panic. "I don't want to be like him! What if I turn evil like my father? What if the Ikana comes to me and I become like him? I should be locked up forever!"

"No!" I cried, untangling his fingers from his hair and clasping both his hands in mine. "You will NOT be punished for the sins of your father, Kael, you are an innocent in all of this!"

He looked at me, disbelieving his innocence.

"You have done nothing wrong…Kael, I can see your heart and you are nothing like your wicked father. There is a kindness in you that reminds me of my closest friend, Link, and he is a Hero in Hyrule. You have the heart of a Hero!"

"I have the heart of a Hero?" He asked skeptically, hardly daring to accept that he might not be evil like his father.

"Yes," I breathed, willing to make Kael see past all of his uncertainty and heal from all the hurt and shame his father inflicted upon him for his entire life. "There is something in you that makes you the better man and will make you an excellent Mayor in Clock Town, if you chose to go back there."

"What makes me better? My father always told me—"

"Oh—what your father said was rubbish! He was an evil git!" I retorted, a smile breaking on my face despite myself. Kael's shocked expression made me imagine that he was talking to Midna, not a supposedly refined and dignified Princess.

"You are better because you have compassion. You obeyed your father out of fear, yes, but you still found it in yourself to love him even though you knew he killed your mother. You are better because you know what it's like to feel pain and loss, yet you still have kept your humanity. You aren't an unfeeling monster. You tried to warn me of danger and almost died doing so. Do you think that your father would have ever given his life for anyone but himself? I think not. Kael, you have the makings of greatness in you and I—"

My voice stuck in my throat as I saw Kael's face shining with tears and gratitude. When was the last time he was ever praised or loved?

Without even thinking, I threw my arms around him in an embrace. He returned, his silent tears staining the sleeve of my cloak.

Since that day, Kael had become like a brother to me. The brave young man returned to Termina with his head held high and ready to take his father's place as Mayor. I became his mentor and closest confidant, helping him to become the successful child ruler that I once was. I helped him appoint trustworthy advisors and spent many rolls of parchment writing him letters, giving him advice and encouragement.

I spent much of my time at my own castle, working closely with my advisors to bring more unity between Termina and Hyrule. I had to admit, there was a certain advantage of the two lands being on good terms with one another, though there was no need to unite them into one Kingdom.

There was one bright sliver of hope in the dark months after Fierce Deity's death. Weeks after what happened on the moon, I could sense that something strange was happening in Hyrule, but I was too gloomy to investigate further. I didn't detect any apparent danger, so I let it be. Less than a day later, Shad came riding up to my castle, all in a fuss and too excited to speak clearly. After I gave him a cup of calming tea, he settled down and told me that something amazing had happened. He went to visit the Oocca in the City in the Sky to learn more of her true history. When he arrived, he was greeted by men and women dressed in white robes. Then Helena herself came to him and told Shad that her curse had been lifted. Somehow, Astraeus' promise had been kept.

After Helena's transformation, Shad spent much of his time in the City in the Sky. Once the blow of learning that the Oocca were indeed not the ancestors of the Hylians, he threw himself into learning the truth of Helena. He recorded Arkhaos' history by her testimony and attempted to string together the hazy connections between Termina and Arkhaos. In a few short months, he became a celebrated scholar. No longer the bumbling man with the womanly socks that was a source of humor for respected circles of learning, Shad was the forerunner of the study of ancient Termina. He even managed to attract the attention of a certain Ordonian girl, who had become interested in Shad since Link's absence.

I had not seen hide or hair of Link since I left him with Midna when we came back from Termina. Reunited with her lost love, Midna whisked him off to the Twilight Realm and he had yet to return. The gaping hole in my heart had not been easy to fill on my own. I remembered how I spent hours with Link during his dark days; walking down to Lake Hylia, wandering the halls of my castle, or riding across the fields of Hyrule while his broken heart slowly mended. Heartache was easier to fight when a friend could help carry the burden.

Yet I was alone, always alone in my pain. I had no friend to help me when my parents died. No, I had been put up to the task of ruling and could only mourn my parents when I was by myself at night. Now, everybody left who remembered the Fierce Deity hated him. They believed him an evil, wicked being. I could not bring myself to tell them the truth, to tell them the whole story. Once they learned that he possessed Link, there was no chance that they would ever accept him as a fallen hero. They would not see past what he had done to their Hero. For this I could not blame them; if I were an outsider looking into the situation, I would too, believe that the creature that possessed the Hero of Light was a terrible, cursed being.

All I could do was hang the massive, double helix sword that once belonged to the white giant over the mantle piece in my parents' room at the Lakeside Manor. I did this to honor his memory, just as the people in the Tale of the Two Dancing Giants made masks to honor the young man who saved them. He had saved me from a fate as Taran's captive wife and the return of Majora, had he not?

However, I found myself traveling to Ordon in the shadow of an oncoming storm. I felt a strange, inexplicable draw to the small village far beyond the boundaries of my castle. The air was thick with mist and humidity. Hyrule was lush and green, thriving from the abundance of all the spring rain.

I closed my eyes and turned my face to the sky to relish in the cool mist that fell on my skin, the feeling of it refreshing my harried soul. It was a relief for the snow to be done with and for a new season to begin. After the pain of winter, spring would be a fresh start for me.

"Zelda!"

I opened my eyes at the unexpected shout of my name. My face grew into a smile. I knew that voice.

A young man clad in green was riding a fiery red horse in my direction. I waved at him, pleased to see his friendly smile. Link waved back and urged Epona to canter over to me.

I hopped off my mare and landed on the soft earth.

"Link," I happily greeted him. "I was just on my way to Ordon!"

Link pulled Epona to a stop and slid down from the saddle.

"I was just on my way to see you," he replied. "I got back from the Twilight Realm last night and I wanted to see you as soon as I could."

I stood there with my mare's reins in my hands, not knowing how to continue this conversation. The last time I saw Link, he was half dead from the Fierce Deity's mask and I was…despondent.

Link, however came right to me and put his arms around me in an embrace. I returned, trying to hold back sudden emotion.

"Are you alright?" He asked tenderly.

I hesitated, giving myself a chance to collect my tears. "I'm better," was all that I managed to say.

Link gave me one more squeeze and then let me go. His eyes looked a little sad, but he gave me an overly cheery smile and patted me on the arm.

"I've been gone so long!" He quipped. "What's happened in Hyrule since Midna held me hostage in the Twilight Realm?"

I laughed, grateful for Link's change of subject. All I wanted to do was just catch up with my friend and save _that_ conversation for later.

"Link," I began, feeling happier than I had in far too long. "These past few months have been incredible! Did you hear that Shad and Ilia are close now?"

Link's face lit up and he beamed at me. "Yes! I heard! I'm very happy for her," he answered.

Our conversation stayed mostly on safe, happy topics as we wandered into Faron woods with our horses in tow. I told Link about Shad's rise to fame, Ilia's happy relationship, growing relations with Termina, and anything else that I could think of to keep myself from spilling over about the Fierce Deity. Link in turn had several small adventures in the Twilight Realm, which I was pleased to hear. He said that Midna was going to come back in several weeks, as she wanted to give Link some time to spend with his family and friends since he had not seen them in months.

"Also," he said, his voice quiet and serious now. "I wanted to see you."

I nodded my head, but said nothing in return. We had walked deeper into Faron and I found that we were following the same path that we had when we first encountered the Fierce Deity. Link looked past me and into the forest beyond.

"It feels…lighter in there, doesn't it?" He asked. I also looked into the woods as well.

"Do you want to…?" I began to ask, but I did not finish my question. Link took my hand in a friendly way and led me into the forest.

Before, the woods had been suffocating and unfriendly, danger seeming to lie behind every twisted tree. Now, it certainly did feel lighter and less ominous. The absence of Fierce Deity's presence had changed the woods. I saw little birds twittering happily in the rain soaked branches and even a small, soft faun hiding beneath bright green ferns.

Link and I walked along in silence, both of us knowing where our wandering feet would eventually take us. A light drizzle of rain was falling upon us, filling the silent woods with the peaceful sound of raindrops. I felt like a hand had reached inside me and squeezed my heart. Would I be able to survive the inevitable? Could I face my past with a strong heart and come away intact? All reminders of him were tucked away in a children's book, or hidden in the Manor so that I would not have to be ripped to shreds by the pain of seeing them.

Now I was throwing caution to the wind and going to the place where it all started. Was bringing myself to the woods a wise choice? Would coming here help me surmount my sadness? Was I desperate to feel pain, to feel something so I could sense him again?

The woods opened up into the clearing. The grass had grown tall and thick with lovely purple and yellow wildflowers. Fresh vines of dark green ivy grew over the dilapidated walls of the dingy, white shack. We stopped at the edge of the forest and tied our mounts to a tree.

"It looks almost pretty now, without the snow," were the words that came tumbling out of my mouth. Was that really all that I could say?

"I hardly remember it," Link muttered. "The mask had me in a trance, so everything from that time is fuzzy and…surreal."

"I remember," I replied softly. "Midna and I were petrified. We didn't understand what was wrong with you and where our Link had gone."

"Did you remember it?" Link asked. "Did you remember the shack and all those other masks?"

"I did. I couldn't comprehend why I knew that shack and the mask, but I felt—I knew—that I had been here before."

Link's face held an uncharacteristic seriousness as he listed to me. He began walking to the shack, wading through the tall grass. The shack looked so innocent and dreamy now, sitting in a small meadow of flowers and grass on a rainy spring day. I followed Link through the clearing.

He stopped at the threshold and put his hand against the peeling white paint of the doorframe. I stopped behind him, dreading to go inside but curiously wanting to.

Together we peered into the dim room, the air inside smelling of mold and rain. Link pointed to the rotting wood of the floor.

"I can't believe that he spent a hundred years in the dirt, alone and just looking up at the sky," he said sadly.

"It was rather pitiful life for him, wasn't it?" I replied. "How do you know he spent a century here? Did Midna tell you?"

Link shook his head no. "I knew it," he answered.

"You knew? He told me that he suppressed your consciousness when he…well, when he had control over you." I said uneasily, not wanting to unintentionally hurt or offend my friend.

Link glanced over at me and gave me a quick, reassuring smile. "For the most part, he did. There were times though, that things were clear to me and I was able to look into his thoughts and memories." He frowned slightly and stared at the spot where we first found the mask.

"I could feel him pulling at me when we walked by Faron. At the time I didn't know what made me want to, but I just had to go into the woods. When we started walking through the trees, I knew that something was wrong about that part of the forest, but I still wanted to go in further."

Link's frown deepened and he looked over at me with sad eyes. "I was putting you and Midna in danger. Zelda, I'm so sorry. It was all my fault."

"No," I reassured him. "It wasn't your fault. You were under a spell and none of us knew what would have happened! Don't blame yourself. If anyone should take the blame it should be me…"

"I don't blame you," Link argued gently. "I know that Midna did for the longest time, but I could never share in her anger. She moved past it though, and I know that she forgives you for what happened, but I never thought that you were to blame."

"She forgives me?" I asked in a small voice. I had already prepared myself for Midna's wrath when I saw her again. After what happened on the moon, she hardly spoke a word to me. It may have been because she was reuniting with her lost love, or because she still hated me. In the following months, I already told myself that our friendship was over and she would never concede to forgive me.

Link nodded. "She does. She's actually embarrassed at how she acted when Fierce Deity possessed me. I guess we all act crazy for the ones we love. Still…when she comes back to Hyrule, she wants to apologize to you."

It was more than I could ever have hoped for. "I understand though. Who knows? I might have acted the same if that happened to the man I loved."

"Maybe," Link shrugged. "But knowing you….probably not." He smiled as I laughed. "You and Midna are like night and day. You're calm where she's the storm. You're the light where she's the shadow."

"That was well spoken, Link." My friend smiled at me one more time.

"Just know that she does forgive you…and she's sorry for everything. I know that your friendship means a lot to her."

Tears pricked at my eyes and threatened to spill over, but I blinked them back. Link stayed silent for a moment before continuing with his story.

"So, we were walking through the forest and I started to feel less afraid and more urgent to go deeper into the woods. There was this voice in my head telling me to go faster and faster. I obeyed that voice. I could hear you and Midna trying to talk to me, but it was like I didn't even know who you were. Nothing mattered to me but to listen to the voice. Then suddenly, I wasn't myself, but I was the voice. I think at that point, he took over me.

I ran to the house as fast as I could. Midna told me that you and her followed and were yelling at me to come back, but I don't remember hearing anything. She told me that I got to the clearing and I wasn't even acting like a normal human being, but more like a ghost. All I can remember at that point is flashes. Somewhere in the back of my mind, where I was still myself, I knew that I had been to the shack before. I knew that there was something bad inside, but the mask's power over me was so strong that I didn't care. I remember that you were scared because you were feeling what I was feeling too. Then all of a sudden, I was inside and holding the mask in my hands. I heard him telling me to put the mask on." Link continued to glare at that spot where Fierce Deity's mask had lain.

"After that, I knew nothing. My mind was in darkness. I thought that I had died." Link looked at me again, this time his eyes held a shadow of anger.

"It took me a long time to realize that I was not dead, but trapped in my own head. I felt another presence, pushing me down and keeping me at bay. When I realized that the voice I heard telling me to go to the shack actually belonged to the presence in my mind, I was angry."

Link paused and closed his eyes. "I knew that my Triforce was active, but I didn't know how he was using it. I didn't know until I felt you in his mind."

He opened his eyes and turned to me. "I felt your emotions, almost as if they were my own. It wasn't long until I began to feel his as well. He wasn't pushing against me so much. He was giving me a little freedom. At times I saw things that were happening in the outside world. I saw you, I saw Shad, and I saw other people that I didn't know. I knew that he was accessing my memories and sometimes, just sometimes, I felt his memories too. That's how I knew that he had been here for a hundred years. That's how I knew what happened with the old Link and Zelda…

Near the end, he let me feel all that he felt. It was almost as if we were partners, not enemies anymore, sharing the same body. I knew that he felt sorry for what he had done to me, so I think letting me be free in my own mind again was his way of showing me that."

He stepped into the shack and walked over to the hole in the floor. I walked behind him and gazed at the sad spot of dirt that had been Fierce Deity's home for an age.

"It must have been terrible, Link," I said sorrowfully.

"It was," he said. "At first it was bad, but near the end…it wasn't so much." He shrugged his shoulders. "I felt him protecting you and caring about you. I knew that he didn't like Midna but he even sided with her too because he knew that I loved her. I could feel that he truly wanted to redeem himself. I knew that he wanted to save me too.

Link hesitated for a moment before he said something that made my heart wrench with grief.

"Zelda, I think that he loved you."

The tears came, unbidden this time. I couldn't hold back anymore.

"Oh Link," I cried. "I wish I could believe that." Link immediately came to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry!" He said apologetically. "I don't mean to make you upset. I thought that telling you that would make you happy."

I wiped the tears from my cheeks, only to have them replaced by a fresh wave. "It does—it would, but honestly I would rather not know! How could I live my life knowing that he did love me, but never being able to spend my life with him? He's dead. I saw him die. There's no hope for me to believe that he loved me because that just deepens the loss. I want to live never knowing if he loved me and saving myself some pain."

Link just rubbed my arm as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"I feel so foolish, Link. I felt that maybe I did love him, but I only knew him for such a short time. How could have I truly loved him? It was only an infatuation, but still…I cry for him most nights. I'm just a foolish girl!"

"Don't feel that way, Zelda. I only knew Midna for a while but we loved each other," he said comfortingly.

"You were with her for far longer than a few weeks." I said, perhaps a little too harshly because Link's face fell slightly.

"True," he answered quietly. "I was with her for longer but it wasn't far into our journey when I knew that she was special. You weren't with him for long, but you felt for him and I know that he felt for you. He cared about you a lot more than he let on. Trust me! I was in his head and he really couldn't hide his feelings from me!"

Link laughed a little and gave me a quick squeeze. "It'll be okay, Zelda," he reassured me. "It seems awful now, but things always get better. I never told you this, but I knew about the connections between our Triforces."

I looked at him with surprise. "How long did you know?" I asked him.

"Since the beginning," he admitted. "I always felt you watching over me, even when you weren't there. It was nice, knowing that there was a friend to make sure that I was doing alright. I guess now I can do the same for you."

My throat was too thick with emotion to form any words, so I just wrapped my arms around Link again and hugged him close.

"Thank you," I managed to whisper. Link didn't say anything but just held me in a friendly embrace. As we stood there, a patch of blue sky escaped as the clouds above us broke. A beam of sunlight shone down and illuminated the ragged hole in the floor. For a second, I imagined the Fierce Deity mask lying there, its pale face aglow with light and the sun reflecting off the white hair.

In a second, the clouds swallowed up the sun and the light was diminished. I pulled myself away from my friend and knelt on the floor. I clasped my hands together, as if in prayer. Link stayed where he was standing behind me.

"Good bye," I breathed reverently. That was the first time I had uttered those words in relation to the Fierce Deity. I had not wanted to believe that it was goodbye. My heart wanted to hold onto him, to hold his memory captive forever, but my mind had said that it was time to let it go. This time, I was ready to listen. I said goodbye to his memory, to the hope of him somehow coming back. I said goodbye to the sleepless nights and endless tears. I said goodbye to all my pain, to all of my heartache, to every part of him that lived within me. I would always love him, in my own way, but I felt that I would someday, somehow move forward.

A small, dim wave of peace washed over me. Thunder rumbled in the distance, deep and glorious as the voice of the god that I loved. It was as though he answered me, to say his goodbye.

* * *

ONE MORE CHAPTER


	19. Sovereign

**I have never typed the words "fierce" and "deity" more in my entire life. I don't think that I ever will again! **

**Honestly, I'm getting a little teary posting the last chapter. This has been 3 years in the making. It feels so surreal that I'm FINALLY finished. After all this time and work and effort, my story is complete. My many thanks to all who have followed, reviewed, and favorited Healing the Moon, first draft and final draft. My special thanks to those who followed this story originally and who came back to it. It means the world to me when I get reviews saying "Oh, I missed this story! I'm so glad its back!" That warms my heart. Thanks to the new reviewers who reviewed and followed and loved my story. It makes me feel accomplished and super dang happy when I get positive feedback. Pretty much, I LOVE YOU GUYS! **

**So, please enjoy and happy, happy, happy, happy reading :) **

* * *

**It was one of those rare, treasured days, **when the first snow fell from the sky like thousands of little sparkling diamonds. A lovely dusting of white powder blanketed the kingdom. I sat by the window, my hair flowing freely down my shoulders. A red shawl was pulled around my body, shielding me from the cold winter air. What a perfect day for the first snow, I thought to myself.

This was the day of my coronation. Twenty-three years of life marked the coming of age when I would be crowned the Queen of Hyrule. My birthday had passed some weeks ago in the fall. Winter was on the threshold and the snow had come early, much to my happiness. I leaned my forehead against the cool glass and thanked the goddesses for their small gift on this most special of days.

The castle had been bustling with activity for the past fortnight. Every nook and cranny was being cleaned with a fanatical fervor. Servants were rushing around carrying fresh linens and expensive china. Silverware was being polished within an inch of its life. Every seamstress in the town had their hands full with orders for new dresses and tunics for the ceremony and ball. Nobility was coming from far and wide to celebrate, so the rooms of the castle were full to bursting. I had retreated to the quiet of the Manor, wanting a few days of silence and peace to prepare myself for the life-changing moment when I went from Princess to Queen. Now, on the morning of my coronation, I was back at my home and relaxing in my room before I had to prepare.

There was a sharp knock on my door and I pulled myself from the window.

"Who is it?" I called, not feeling ready to see visitors so early in the morning.

"Princess, it's just me," called a friendly voice from beyond the door.

I smiled and pulled my shawl more tightly around my shoulders. "Come in Moira."

My maid, her face aglow with excitement, rushed into my chambers and closed the door behind her with a snap.

"My Princess," she said as she walked to me. "Today you become my Queen."

"Can you believe it?" I asked her, excitement bubbling in my stomach. "Queen Zelda!"

"Yes. How the time has flown," she said gently. She looked into my eyes and her expression became soft. "It should have been your mother's place to be here today," she murmured.

"You have been more like a mother to me these years past than anyone else has. It is your place to be with me today," I whispered back to her.

"Well, I know that they are looking down at you now, and I know that they would be so proud of their little girl."

I blinked back a few tears and let Moira snatch me up in a motherly embrace.

"How are you feeling?" She asked cautiously. I knew that she was referring to him. After my reunion with Link, I finally told her the entire story of the Fierce Deity. She knew about his past, his death, and every moment in between. With an aching heart, I told her about my torn feelings for him and the predicament that I put myself in. It had taken her some time, but she finally understood and accepted that I had a rather intense relationship with an angry, cursed god.

She had taken it upon herself, my dear Moira, to try and make me forget all about my white giant. Moira made sure that every eligible bachelor had been invited to my coronation and I anticipated an awkward meeting with each and every one tonight.

"I'm fine," I answered truthfully. It had taken me months, but I was able to push down my sadness and move on. At times, I still cried for the lost love that I could have had and I did not plan on today being one of those times. "Let's just enjoy this day!"

Moira seemed understanding enough and we quickly moved on to other subjects.

"You know," she began with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "I have made sure that the council invited many handsome young men who would make wonderful suitors."

"Your subtlety is legendary," I said laughing.

There came a series of knocks on the door. Moira looked to me for permission to allow more visitors in. I nodded, preparing myself for the ensuing chaos of the day.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon passed in a colorful, loud, excited blur. I sat patiently while two servants worked to place my hair in an elaborate style piled on top of my head. They fussed over me until came the moment where I was to put on my coronation gown. The room fell into silent awe as the dress was laid out upon the bed. I felt like a bride preparing for her wedding gown.

The dress was deep crimson, gorgeously brocaded with gold thread. I blushed as I saw that the neckline was cut lower than I was used to. The sleeves were cut long, the tails almost reaching to the floor. The inside of them was gold silk. The skirt was full and flowing, with tiny golden roses embroidered into the fabric. I was to wear a train like a bride, and it was covered with a gold lace overlay.

It was perhaps the most stunning piece clothing that I would ever wear, and it looked very familiar.

"Is this…" I asked, feeling the rich velvet of the bodice.

"Your mother's wedding gown," Moira answered in a tearful whisper. "She saved it for you to wear on your coronation day. She made me promise that I would give it to you."

Overcome with emotion, I simply nodded. I could hear some sniffling coming from the servants. Touched, I turned to smile at them. They dried their eyes and began to dress me.

**The sky was painted **with gold and pink. Brilliant light from the sunset fell into the Throne Room, illuminating the hall with a dusky glow. I stood at the threshold of the room. All eyes were upon me. Every inch of space was packed with guests. Only the aisle, where I was to walk down, was free. I saw the high priest of the goddesses, dressed in his own elaborate robes, waiting by the dais where my throne sat. Caldwell stood by his side. It was customary that the highest member of the council to be there to present the crown if the previous monarch was not there. I looked at him and imagined my father standing there in his place.

The priest gave me a slight nod of his head, signaling me to come to him. I took a deep, steadying breath and gathered my composure. Hundreds of people, all of them friends, subjects, and some family were glowing with happiness and pride as I walked by them. I caught Midna's eye as I went past her. She gave me a devilish wink. Link was standing beside her and he beamed at me. His face was the best face that I saw. My vision was blurry with tears the rest of the way down the aisle. I reached the end and stopped on front of the priest. I gathered my many skirts in my hands and knelt before him. Caldwell came forward carrying a large, neatly folded bundle in his hands. He stood behind me and I felt a rush of air as he shook out the bundle. His hands placed an ornate cape upon my shoulders. It was as nearly heavy as the gown. The weight of it felt right when I wore it. It felt solid and permanent. The thing was centuries old, but it was as beautiful as the day it had been made. Many Kings and Queens before me had been cloaked with it on the eve of their sovereign reign.

"Princess Zelda, please arise to say your oaths." The voice of the priest echoed through the hall. A hush descended as every mouth fell silent.

I stood gracefully to my feet. The priest brought forward a velvet pillow. On it laid a golden scepter and orb. Both were decorated with rich jewels and intricate carvings. I was to hold these while I swore my oaths.

I took them, my scepter in my right hand and the orb in my left, and I began to say the oaths. There were words that I had memorized when I was a young girl. I had always dreamed of finally being able to say them, and now that time had come. I prayed that I wouldn't stumble or stutter.

I swore to uphold the safety of the land and its inhabitants.

I swore to abide by the laws that my ancestors before me had established.

I swore to obey the goddesses and practice their teachings and be an upstanding example to all my followers.

I swore to rule with grace, dignity, fairness, justice, and love.

I swore to give my life to the service of the kingdom.

When I had finished, Caldwell handed the priest a crown. It was my mother's old crown and it was far more elaborate than the one I used as princess. I felt a rush of excitement course through me as he placed it on my head. My heart pounded when the priest ordered me to turn and face my subjects.

"Citizens and friends of Hyrule. Today you have witnessed the rise of a new monarch, and the dawn of a new era. By the power of the goddesses, I ask that you kneel as I present to you…"

Every knee bowed and my heart was wrought with emotion.

"Queen Zelda of Hyrule."

**My castle had never been **so crowded. Knights and nobles, subjects and friends, family and visitors were all packed into the ballroom. I strolled around the room, getting used to the weight of the crown on my head, and greeted all my guests.

I saw Link and Midna sitting at a table with Shad and Ilia. My heart skipped an excited beat and I made my way over to them.

"My Queen," said an unfamiliar voice. I looked over my shoulder and saw a handsome man with brown hair that was fighting against the crowd to come to me. This was, no doubt, one of Moira's bachelors.

"Yes, good sir," I replied genially. He bowed low to me and took my hand. He placed a delicate kiss on my fingers.

"You look splendid tonight," said the man, still grasping my hand. "I would like to introduce myself. My name is…"

The young man had brown eyes, I noticed. While he said his name and title, al I could do was stare at his eyes and think of another pair of eyes: white ones that still somehow pierced through me though there was nothing in them to see. I pictured the man's hair grow white and his eyes become blank. I imagined him grow tall and fierce and—

"My Queen?" asked the young man. He looked quite concerned. "Did I offend you somehow?"

"I'm—I'm sorry?" I asked dumbly. My face flushed and I felt like a fool. How rude had I been to get lost in my thoughts when the poor young man had been trying to talk to me. I did not even catch his name!

"Queen Zelda," he stammered, quite embarrassed. "I was only remarking that it was a shame your parents could not be here. I did not mean to anger you!"

"Oh, no! You did no such thing!" I said, a little too happily. "I could not hear you because of all the noise."

He smiled weakly. I patted his arm and gave him my sunniest smile. "You truly did not offend me, sir. Will you dance with me later on?" I asked, hoping that would cheer him some.

"Oh of course!" He answered quickly, all embarrassment gone. I chatted with him for a few more moments, learning his name and where he was from. I did think that he was kind and attractive, but those white eyes still interrupted my conversation-until a pair of red eyes came bounding up to us.

"Queen Zelda," Midna exclaimed. "We have been waiting all night to talk to you! Will you come with me?" She asked as she took my arm and began leading me to where Link and the rest of them sat. I laughed at Midna's eagerness and at our unspoken promise from a few months ago. I had jokingly requested that she take me away from any man that was talking to me for too long at the coronation ball. She knew and respected the fact that I wasn't ready for romance yet. Now, she had made good on our silly promise.

"Please excuse me," I apologized, breaking myself away from the man. "Do not forget about our dance!" I called back as Midna dragged me away. The man smiled at me, looking as though I had already accepted his marriage proposal.

"He was actually very nice, Midna." I whispered to her. She looked back at him and scoffed.

"No Zelda, I did you a favor! You can do much better than Mr. Weasel over there!"

"Midna!"

We laughed and whispered about other handsome men that talked to me earlier. True to Link's word, when Midna returned from the Twilight Realm, she was full of apologies. We spent a weekend together, just us two friends, working out the problems that had grown between us. We said our share of apologies and our friendship had been better than ever. For that I was grateful. We talked and laughed until we reached the table. Ilia looked beautiful in her pink silk gown and Shad looked dashing, wearing his womanly socks as always. Link looked like his usual self in his green Hero's tunic.

"Congratulations Zelda," she said jovially.

"Yes, yes! Many congratulations to you!" Shad agreed. Ilia also said her congrats and I settled down at the table with my friends.

"Now all you need to do is find yourself a King!" Ilia said dreamily. Link and Midna gave each other knowing glances and sat down.

"Well, I'm in no hurry," I answered truthfully. "Besides, I don't want to steal your thunder! Your wedding is very soon, right?"

Shad blushed and Ilia smiled widely. "In the spring," she replied sweetly. "Shad and I are so excited!"

We spent a few minutes more chatting about the upcoming nuptials. Midna made a witty comment about wanting to start planning her own wedding, but she was still waiting for a certain wolf-boy to ask!

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced over to Link and he glanced shyly back. We both knew that it wouldn't be long before Midna had a ring on her finger. Link was taking the time to forge a ring for her, making it with his own two hands. He found metals and stones to create the ring. That was the reason it was taking some time.

"Oh hush! You'll be planning your own wedding soon enough," I answered sarcastically.

The rest of the dinner was spent with them. It was rare that we were all together and I did not want to tear myself away. The time for dancing had come and of course, I danced with the handsome young man and many others. The night was truly magical. Even Kael had come to my coronation. It was delightful to see how much he had grown in the year that we had known each other. He carried himself with confidence and ease now. The young man had become like family to me, and it meant the world that he was there to show his love and support. The party lasted well into the late hours of the night. Not being a night owl, I retired early to change out of my gown into something more comfortable. As I walked to my chambers, I was struck with the sudden urge to spend this night at the Manor.

I called for a servant to ready my sleigh.

**I slept fitfully that night.** The darkness would not rest and neither could I. My mind was awake with visions of the moon and snow. I tossed and turned, not able to rid myself of the two white eyes that plagued my thoughts.

It had been so long since I had felt him, as though he looked down upon my lonely life without him. When he was so enveloped in my thoughts, as he was on this night, it was as though he had never left, our souls still mingling as one.

Everything was trapped in an ethereal haze. An indistinguishable voice urged me to rise out of bed. I obeyed the voice in my dream. I wandered through the dark hallway, my feet taking me to a destination unknown. The voice, not using words so much as feelings, told me to follow. I had no choice but to obey, for this was a dream was it not?

The outside air suddenly struck me. My mind snapped to awareness as I realized that I had walked outside, standing now on the snow covered grounds of the manor. Frozen Lake Hylia glittered under the glow of the full moon. I looked down at myself in a sleepy state of surprise. When in my dream had I put on my cloak and boots over my nightclothes?

I pulled the cloak closer to my shivering body and wondered if I were still asleep. The night was too calm, too surreal in its icy, wintry glory. The voice that had called me still whispered fervently in my ear. The presence of this voice made me doubt that I was truly awake. Hearing whispers inside your head was a sign of madness or dreams.

I decided that I was still mostly asleep, and I headed down the lawn to nowhere in particular…until the shore of the lake called my name.

Mesmerized by the ebb and flow of the cold, dark waves that lapped upon the gravel shore, I stood in the shelter of the pine forest beside the lake. I watched the ripples crash and crash and crash, the repetition lulling me back to that dreamy state.

Why had I even come out here, I asked myself. The voice in my head had stopped and I questioned ever really hearing it. Why though, had I come here? What force of dream or madness or the divine had urged me from my restless sleep and pushed me to this spot?

Familiarity sparked and I recalled, many moons ago, standing in this forest under a different winter sky and hearing the blood stained history of a fallen god.

This was where he told me of his past.

This was where I learned of Astraeus.

The sound of a cloak brushing against the ground caught my attention. I searched for a figure amongst the trees, but could find none in the snowy darkness. Gravel crunched underneath a foot—the owner of the cloak was walking on the shore. The presence of the stranger with me in the woods did not fill me with fear as it should have. Rather, I felt my heart pound with expectation. I peered through trees by the lake and found my companion.

Long, silvery white hair tumbled down the figure's back, contrasting with the midnight blue cloak. The moon's light gleamed off the pale strands, making the hair look like white fire. This person was tall. Very tall. The back was turned to me and the figure stood patiently by the water, as though waiting. By the tilt of the head, I could tell that they were gazing up at the heavens.

This was a dream. Surely, this was a dream.

My fear was no longer absent. I was petrified now, and not for my own safety, but for what I would find when that tall figure with the white hair would be when it turned around.

Even so, I went to him, the silent stranger that stood like a sentinel over the night sky. I was drawn to him.

As I grew closer to him, I felt peace, like a warm rain, wash over me. I was not afraid or nervous, but fully and truly at ease. As though I were moving through water, I reached out and placed my hand on the stranger's back, my fingers barely brushing the white hair.

I suddenly lowered my eyes to the ground as he turned around. I could not bring myself to see what was before me.

"Look at me," came a gentle, quiet plea.

It was _his _voice! I closed my eyes to the wave of tears that threatened to spill over. It was incredible how real everything felt. In my heart, I did not believe that I was awake. This was just another dream. He lived so vividly within my thoughts. This could be the only reason for why he was here. I had seen him fall, seen the mask that was his soul smashed to pieces. He could not be here. No amount of tears or magic or desperate prayers could bring him back.

That was what made it so hard to look up. How could I bear to open my eyes and see the phantom that had haunted my every waking thought and know that it was nothing more than a wish of my mind?

"Zelda," said the voice once more. "Please."

I could not ignore his pleas, dream or not. Hesitantly, I lifted my head to see what stood before me.

A man whose face was so painfully familiar tenderly gazed down at me. He had never before looked this way in my dreams. The red and blue slashes of paint were gone, only his unblemished face shone through. I remembered how I had always wanted to see him without those distracting lines there. He was far more appealing without. This handsome man that stared back at me made me feel overwhelmingly shy and a blush crept over my cheeks.

He did not wear any of the clothes that I had seen him in before. The blue cloak shrouded him and I could barely see the white tunic and dark breeches he wore underneath. His hair was not pushed back by a hat, but it hung freely, framing his long face. I had not realized how long and lovely his hair had been.

His eyes though thrilled me. No longer did I look into a cold, blank stare.

His eyes were a clear, silvery gray. They were the color of the ocean after a storm, or a cloud carrying the first snow of winter. They were beautiful. He was complete now. In all my dreams, his eyes were always white. I had always been desperate to see what they really looked like, to peer into those windows to his soul. I could not tear myself away from those stormy eyes. I drank them in, forgetting that I was only looking at a dream. He looked back at me and I saw tenderness and joy in his eyes.

"This can't be real," I finally whispered. "This is just a beautiful dream."

I stepped closer to him and he followed suit. The space between us hardly existed. I reached out and put my hand on his chest. His heart beat solidly beneath my touch.

"You feel real though," I said solemnly. He had always felt real in dreams. How was this any different?

"Zelda," he said, taking a hold of my hand and squeezing it gently. He leaned forward, his face so close to mine.

"This is not a dream. This is real."

Somehow, I knew that he was right.

I could not take the anticipation another second. I grabbed fistfuls of his cloak and pulled him to me. He yielded to my touch and our lips crashed together in a sweet surrender. His hands grasped me with a desperate intensity and pressed me against him. There was no air between us. I melded into him and fell to the spell of our kiss.

I was blissfully dizzy as we stood there as one. It was a sweet, tentative moment of our lips pressed together. My heart pounded. I did not know what to do next. A timid part of me wanted to pull away, yet there was something inside me that told me not to. It was like a burning ember deep in my stomach that had always been there, but never ignited until now. It flared as his fingers tightened their grip on me.

I felt him deepening the kiss. I opened my lips slightly and let him take over. The heat of the moment intensified when he did and suddenly his hands were clutching at my back and tangled in my hair. He explored my mouth with his with a fervent need.

I gasped at the change and felt the fire course through me. My own hands were wrapped tightly around him and I could not get enough. I lost myself to his passionate embrace. I felt hungry for him, urgent to be satisfied.

He did not disappoint. The kiss grew more and more fiery by the second. I could not tell where he ended and where I began. Our hands were everywhere. I felt myself grow hot with embarrassment and desire.

Hours could have passed. The snow around us could have melted and Spring begun. The moon could have fallen from the sky and we would have never noticed. All we could see and feel was each other.

He eventually pulled away from me. Both of us stood in silence, panting as we tried to regain our breath.

"How—how are you here?" I saw you die," I managed to blurt out. "How can this be possible?"

"I did die," he replied. "My soul was released from the mask when Majora crushed it. When you played that song on the ocarina, my curse was breaking. If I had known, I could have simply released my hold on Link and then we would have both been our own…but that was not meant to be."

"Well, what happened after the mask was broken?" I asked, eager to hear how this miracle had taken place.

"I awoke in the heavenly realm. Before me sat the four father gods and three goddesses, whom I had never seen before. They told me that they were all brothers and sisters—the gods being in charge of Termina and the goddesses watching over Hyrule. The goddesses had seen my interactions with you and they knew of my fight for redemption. It was them that wanted me to be sent back. The gods however were still furious with me for my rebellion and war mongering. They wanted me to stay in the realm with them, so that I could cause no further destruction to humankind. They especially refused to allow me to go back to Termina. I had scarred and tainted that land already. The goddesses understood their reasons for not allowing me to go back to what I was. All of them decided that I was banned from Termina for eternity.

I fought for redemption for my sister, Helena. The gods were more merciful with her. The goddesses though still wanted me to have some sort of a second chance. They argued, Nayru especially, for me to come to Hyrule. They felt as though I had truly changed and that I would not be a scourge to Hyrule. They believed that I could be beneficial if I started over in their land, being the god that I was meant to be.

The gods would not allow it. They did not want me to have as much freedom as I did before. After many weeks, a compromise was made. I would be returned to Hyrule, with all of my powers intact. I would be known as the god of war and the deity of the moon, as before. They sent me to the moon to begin my reign."

I could hardly believe my ears. He was alive and he was back!

"So you're here to stay," I asked. My voice was thick with emotion. "Why did you not come back sooner?"

His eyes grew serious and I felt dread creeping over me.

"There was one other condition to my return, Zelda." He wrapped his arms around my waist and I fell into his embrace. I laid my head on his chest.

"Tell me," I said, preparing myself for the worst.

"I cannot live here on this earth as I used to. My time here is greatly limited."

My heart sank and I felt numb. The joy of his return was shattered.

"How long," I managed to choke out before the tears began to flow.

"Until the winter dies," he whispered back.

"We have some time," I cried. "I'll never see you again after that, will I?"

"Not until the winter begins again," he answered. I craned my head to look up at him. He wore a sad smile, but his eyes looked hopeful.

"What do you mean," I asked cautiously.

"The goddesses love you, Zelda, and they fought for your happiness. It was all the gods would allow."

"What did they allow?"

"During the winter, your favorite time of year, the moon is closest to the earth. My connection to the planet is strongest and the goddesses will allow me to use my power to come back to the earth. As soon as the season is over, I have to return back to my moon."

I untangled myself from his embrace and stepped away from him. I could hardly believe it! There was a chance for us.

"You made it sound like all hope was lost!" I snapped. Part of me was overjoyed that we could still be together, but another part was highly annoyed that he had made it seem like this would be our last meeting.

He must have thought that I was far more upset than I actually was, for his eyes darkened and he frowned.

"It very well could be. I'm sorry that it cannot be easier...this is all that they would allow and I do not begrudge them their choice. I have failed my fathers and they are giving more mercy than I could ever deserve. And you...I would hate to know that you would be here on the earth, living your life always waiting for me to come back. You deserve more than that, Zelda. I understand if you want to be with someone who can always be there for you. If you chose it, I can return to the moon and leave you to live your life without always waiting. All I ask is that you tell the world of me…"

I shook my head. "I will, I will tell everyone about the god of the moon, but please…I have spent a year mourning your death. Never had I allowed myself to hope that you could return. Now, you're here and you can come back to me! I don't care that I would only have you for a short while each year. I would rather have you more than anyone else. There is no one else for me. I will wait for you, always."

"You will wait for me?" He asked tenderly. "Before I came here, I almost believed that you wouldn't."

"Of course I'd wait!" I exclaimed. "You knew that I lov—"

I stopped myself. My face was aflame with mortification. He said nothing, but smirked at me, his eyes alight with mischief.

"You almost look like the Fierce Deity again," I quipped, trying to distract him. He gathered me up in his arms and pulled me close. His lips hovered over mine and I felt his breath warming the air. Our eyes met. Gray gazed into blue.

"Call me Astraeus," he murmured softly.

"Alright, Astraeus," I whispered shyly back.

"Were you going to say I knew that you loved me?" Astraeus asked. His eyes told me that he already knew the answer.

"Yes…" I replied.

"Well then," Astraeus said as he traced my lips with his.

"I love you as well, Zelda."

My reply was lost as Astraeus drew me in for another breathtaking kiss.


	20. Epilogue

ELEVEN YEARS LATER

**Winter had fallen.** The moon outside was a full, glowing sphere. New snow lay upon the ground. The world was waiting in its silent, wintry splendor.

A gangly boy of eight ran through the candlelit hallways of the Manor. His bright, shaggy silver hair shone eerily under the dim light. Excitement drove him onward. He stopped suddenly in front of a pair of large wooden doors. The boy threw himself against the heavy panels and tumbled inside. Another boy with darker silver hair, two years older than the first, sat on his bed, nose buried in a book. He shook his head and continued to scan his grey-blue eyes across the page. The other little boy was not to be ignored.

"Silas," he yelled breathlessly. "It's almost time! Selene says that it's almost time!"

The boy called Silas broke into a wide smile and tossed his book on the sheets. "Come on Soren," he called exuberantly. Both boys ran from the room and careened down the hallway. They came to a halt in front of another door. Silas raised his fist and knocked twice.

"Selene, we're coming in," he said. They did not wait long for a reply. Silas opened the door and crept into the silent room. Soren followed close behind. A small girl sat on a plush couch in front of a tall, wide window. The moon shining through the window illuminated the girl's pure white hair. It tumbled down her back in soft waves. She looked back at the boys over her shoulder. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean and she was beautiful beyond her six years of age.

"He's already here," Selene whispered happily to her brothers. Silas and Soren rushed to the window.

"You know everything, Selene," exclaimed Soren. Selene giggled and pointed out the window.

"No! Look, silly!"

The three children pressed their hands against the cool glass and looked out the window. The lawn of the Manor stretched out before them. A lone figure stood at the tree line. She was wrapped in a crimson cloak, waiting.

"That's not him, that's mother! I don't see him," said Soren. "I thought you said that he was here."

Selene sighed. "He is here! He just got here."

"You know that she can sense him better than we can. It's like she can talk to him when he's not here…" Silas said to Soren. The boys glanced at each other over Selene's head. It was true. Out of all three of the Children, Selene was gifted in ways that they were not.

"I see father now!" She piped. The boys snapped their attention back to the window just as a figure was emerging from the forest.

**She waited in the cold. **Zelda knew that it would be tonight. That daughter of hers always knew when he was going to be here. She had a funny feeling that she was being watched. Zelda glanced behind her and saw three excited faces staring back from the second story window.

Silas was her firstborn. He had only been a babe in arms when Astraeus had returned to the earth after his yearlong exile. Other than his silver hair and gray-blue eyes, he was the exact image of his father. Silas was very different from his father and more like her. He was a solemn and quiet youth, giving himself over to books and studying. Even as a small boy, his intelligence rivaled that of the most knowledgeable scholars. Recently, the ten year old had taken to sitting with her on council meetings and she let him voice his opinions with confidence and respect. Unlike many young boys she knew, Silas was not a fighter but more of a peacemaker. It was he who usually calmed the quarrels between his younger siblings. He always tried to be patient and fair, practicing for when he would someday rule. Zelda was glad that Hyrule would someday have such a wise, gentle king.

Soren was as fierce as his father. He had all of Astraeus' spirit, though none of his rage. Her second born made up for Silas' disinterest in swordplay. He started practicing with a wooden blade as soon as he could grasp the hilt with his small hand. Only a few years of training showed him to be a promising warrior. Soren was loud and boisterous, a little spitfire that was normally the terror of any nurse that tried to discipline him. He spent his days fighting pretend enemies and rescuing his sister from imaginary dangers. His dream was to become the leader of Hyrule's royal army and be known as the fiercest warrior ever known. Though he had his father's personality, he was the image of his mother, with light silver hair and gray eyes.

Selene's white hair glowed in the light of the moon, looking so much like a piece of the celestial object. She was the only one of their children to have inherited their father's hair. Her eyes though were somewhat puzzling. They were a dazzling, bright blue. Neither her nor Astraeus had such colored eyes. Much about her daughter was a mystery though. She was quiet and calm, and had never acted…childish. Selene had always behaved like an adult. Though she was only six, she seemed mature beyond her years. Never mind that she was showing signs of being adapt at magic. She was also the only one of her children to have inherited that gift. Normally in the Royal Family, only the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom was able to wield magic. Also, she was connected to Astraeus in ways that startled her. Sometimes, the little girl would come up to her, take her hand and give her a message from her father. It was not the silly make believe words of a child; it would always be something that Astraeus himself would have said. Even so, her daughter was sweet and loving. Her brothers, Soren especially, doted on her.

"The Children of the Moon" was what they were called by the people of Hyrule. The children were half god, sons and daughter of the god of war and the god of the moon. They were revered almost as much as the goddesses themselves. How could they not, with their inhumane beauty and heritage? Nobody else had their silvery, pale hair and fair, ethereal features. Some people even worshipped them more than their father and goddesses. That frightened Zelda, especially when some particularly zealous people had tried to kidnap Selene when she had been an infant. Zelda never wanted to know what they had planned to do with her child.

It had been over a decade since Zelda told the citizens of Hyrule about the new god of the moon, the god of war. Zelda knew that that it would take time for all of the people to accept him as their deity. Many people did worship him, but many were also skeptical and afraid.

All these things she pondered as she waited for him. Every year he returned at the same spot, though never at the same time. Some years he had come in the morning or in the daytime. This year, he came at the rise of the full moon.

Zelda turned back to the forest and drew the cloak tightly around her body. She was shivering with excitement. This year had been far too long.

She spotted movement in the trees. He was almost here! Zelda could hardly contain herself.

"Astraeus," she called out.

**The woods around him **were silent and still. Snow crunched beneath his feet as he strode to the tree line. He could see the form of a woman peeking through the trees. She had just called out his name.

His heart beat a little faster as he approached her. It had been far too long since he had seen the face of the one he loved.

Astraeus had lived a long, eventful, arduous life, but the past eleven years were the best he had ever been given. Though he was living a forced exile on the moon, he had thrown his every moment into being the deity that he was meant to be. He served the people as he was created to; giving them council and wisdom for war, battle, or strength. People began to revere the moon as something more than just a bright object in the sky. It gave him strength and hope when more and more people began to trust and worship him. His existence now was tame compared to what it had been before, but he found himself to actually be content, even happy.

His happiness came from the family he had on earth. Though it pained him each moment when he was away from his precious children and beautiful wife, he watched over them from his vigil on the moon. His children could sense him, especially the little one. Sometimes he would talk to her and she would talk back. He was proud of his eldest son, the future King, and he had spent many hours counseling him and giving him advice. His son Soren admired him for his prowess in battle and unfailing strength. He admired his son for his sense of duty and honor to his family and subjects—that was something he had not learned until it was far too late. Even his sister, Helena, was freed from her eons long curse. She was restored to her former glory and the Hylians were learning to embrace her as well. Though she was not the goddess of the sun, she had dominion over the sky and she was trying to restore the glory of the Sheikah tribe. Yet that could not compare to reuniting with _her_…

Zelda. His wife Zelda was the first joy and love he had known. He watched over her, loving her from afar. It was love anew when they reunited after he returned to earth. He heard her call out to him again and he smiled.

Astraeus emerged from the woods. His dark blue cloak whipped around him as the wind picked up and snowflakes blew around them in little flurries. She ran to him and fell into his arms. Astraeus held her close, savoring the feel of her body against his.

"Zelda," he murmured softly.

He was home.

* * *

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ITS OVER?! I CAN'T! THANK YOU ALL WHO STUCK WITH THE STORY! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND I LOVE EACH END EVERY ONE OF YOU!

Iknowiknowiknowiknow I kind of made up some crazy astrology with the moon being closest to the earth at winter but...MY STORY MY RULES! Also, I didn't want them to have a perfectly easy ending. I don't think it would be super realistic that the four gods would just let their war mongering, power hungry, murderous god back have all his power and privilege back. I feel like they would not want to give him a second chance and that they would be very begrudging with their freedom they give him...I just didn't think it was really realistic and it makes for a bittersweet ending. I do like those. Hey, I almost made it where they had a sweet reunion, but he was never allowed to come back and she spent the rest of her life alone and waiting to die so she could be with him together in moon heaven...however, I am not heartless like George R.R. Martin and I want my Zelda to have some modicum of happiness. I will be much braver and riskier with my OC's for my books. Honestly, I made it this way because I am a fangirl and I wanted to see them together. Plus...

**I pretty much have a sequel planned, featuring Zelda and Fierce Deity's children.** Seriously. How could I let something like that pass up? I also want to do a full, detailed story of the origins of Fierce Deity and Majora that was mentioned in the chapter "Soliloquy." I am not sure when I will get to these stories since I am working full time on my original story (which will be published in April 2015) so just hang in there...

In the meantime,

My story has been told. Thank you for listening :)

~Ginger Sheikah~


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